INTERVIEW
Driving progress: overviews and insights from the development of HS2
In conversation with Mark Thurston, Chief Executive Officer, HS2
Published: 7 March 2023
By Ruby Savill-Downs
After a huge year of progress for HS2, we caught up with CEO, Mark Thurston, to discuss plans for the coming year. We dig deep into net zero challenges, achievements within the workforce space, and the innovation that HS2 will navigate in 2023.
You can hear more from Mark at Accelerate: Rail this month, where he will be giving overviews and insights into HS2’s development.
2022 saw huge progress on the project – with the legislation of Phase 2b being published, and the very first tunnelling breakthrough – what are you most excited about accomplishing in the coming year?
2023 promises to be another impressive year on the HS2 programme as we enter the second of our three-year peak construction period on Phase One. Across the project, all three phases are now live, and we continue to celebrate a number of milestones along the route from West Midlands to London, north to Crewe (Phase 2a) and onwards to Manchester (Phase 2b West).
Already this year on Phase One, we’ve celebrated our two Chiltern tunnel TBMs ‘Florence’ and ‘Cecilia’ having passed the halfway point of construction on their 10-mile excavation. We’re also looking forward to completing the second bore for the twin-bore Long Itchington Wood tunnel marking the completion of tunnelling under ancient woodland in Warwickshire. We’re set to celebrate the launch of our sixth and seventh tunnel boring machines on Phase One that will excavate the Northolt tunnels into London, and we’ll start work on our Bromford tunnels on the Phase One route on the approach to Birmingham too. Birmingham will be at the heart of our HS2 network and this year we’re set to start main works construction of the brand new station that will be in the city centre at Birmingham Curzon Street. Work on our other stations will also ramp up with the start of works on the conventual station at Old Oak Common, just outside of London.
Early preparatory works will continue on Phase 2a, extending the line to Crewe and on Phase 2b West, we’ll continue to progress the hybrid Bill through Parliament as we begin Select Committee hearings that we expect to conclude in 2025. Achieving Parliamentary approval for the Phase 2b Western leg of the project will be an important step on our journey to move the scheme north to Manchester and unlocking associated benefits across the country and specifically the North West.
We’re continually documenting and celebrating our progress and I’d encourage you follow our social media channels for an insight into what’s coming up for the year ahead.
The vision for HS2 is grounded in net zero. What have been the key challenges in pioneering this space?
HS2 trains will be powered by zero carbon energy from day one of operation, offering a cleaner alternative to long distance car journeys and domestic flights, while supporting the government’s 2050 target to tackle climate change. HS2 will be a critical part of a net zero carbon transport network. It will deliver zero carbon journeys to people every day and will contribute to the decarbonisation of the wider transport system. This commitment will play a key part in HS2 Ltd’s aim to make the project net zero carbon from 2035, with targets of diesel-free construction sites and major reductions in carbon emissions from the steel and concrete used to build the railway.
“HS2 will be a critical part of a net zero carbon transport network. It will deliver zero carbon journeys to people every day and will contribute to the decarbonisation of the wider transport system.”
After a huge year of progress for HS2, we caught up with CEO, Mark Thurston, to discuss plans for the coming year. We dig deep into net zero challenges, achievements within the workforce space, and the innovation that HS2 will navigate in 2023.
You can hear more from Mark at Accelerate: Rail this month, where he will be giving overviews and insights into HS2’s development.
Congratulations on the fantastic milestone of 1,000 apprenticeships created through HS2. How do you hope to transform the workforce landscape with HS2, and what long-lasting impacts do you hope this will provide?
HS2’s construction is forecast to support 34,000 jobs at peak, and our workforce currently sits at just under 30,000. But there are thousands more people working in factories, offices, and workplaces right across the UK that are helping to bring HS2 to life. From the steel mills in Sheffield, to specialist door manufacturers in Bolton – HS2 is supporting and creating thousands of jobs in so many different sectors – and that’s a trend that will continue into the next decade and beyond.
We are committed to creating meaningful careers and we achieve this by investing in the long term development of our workforce. Upskilling is vital, if we are to attract and retain the highly skilled workforce we need. Our commitment to creating 2,000 apprenticeships, and our success in achieving over 1,100 new apprentice starts, so early into our construction programme, shows the great strides we are making. It’s something I’m incredibly proud of, having started my career as an apprentice.
“From the steel mills in Sheffield, to specialist door manufacturers in Bolton – HS2 is supporting and creating thousands of jobs in so many different sectors – and that’s a trend that will continue into the next decade and beyond.”
We’re beginning to change the face of construction. We’re not complacent, there’s always more we can do, but we’re proud that our female workforce is above the industry average for the rail engineering and construction sectors.
We know the country is facing skills shortages, and we were quick off the mark to start addressing this. Skills, Employment and Education is one of our seven key objectives and that early investment in upskilling is vital to the lasting skills legacy we set out to achieve. For example. through fast-track job training programmes and our dedicated skills centres, we’re supporting people back into work – and providing dedicated training to match them to job roles that we know are in skills shortage areas. To date, we’ve helped over 2,700 formerly unemployed people into new careers on HS2.
Through partnerships with colleges and universities across the UK we’re capturing and investing in new talent. We provide industry placements to students, host paid undergraduate placement schemes and link in directly with universities to ensure students ready to graduate understand where we have live job opportunities that align to their specialist subject areas.
Looking towards the future of rail, what can we learn for innovation in 2023 and beyond?
(MT) HS2 will be a world class 21st Century railway service that embraces new technologies. The scale and duration of the HS2 programme means that we have an opportunity to deliver innovation at an unprecedented scale. We continue to drive innovation to make our project more efficient, reduce carbon, keep our people safe and ensure that we continually innovate in what we do.
Our programme encourages us to step outside our comfort zone, try to do things differently, learn new things and learn from failure so that we can pass this learning onto future projects too. On HS2, innovation is now opt-out. To date, we have a pipeline of over 150 projects, have delivered over £185m of efficiencies and have reduced our carbon footprint by 1.6m CO2 tonnes equivalent in the last year alone, due to innovation on the programme.
By driving innovation at scale, we are able to deliver lasting changes to the way the construction environment operates. The scale and longevity of the programme allow us to develop a cluster of activity with HS2 being an opportunity for construction site innovations to be tested, validated, and implemented at scale. When we have been successful, we ensure that we share these ideas, not only from contractor to contractor, but beyond to other projects and organisations.
Follow us on:
Mark Thurston
Chief Executive Officer, HS2
As the CEO of High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd, Mark has the privilege and ultimate responsibility for leading the company that has been charged with delivering a new high- speed railway that will connect the major cities of the UK.
The vision is for HS2 to be a catalyst for growth across Britain, become the backbone of Britain’s rail network and contribute to a ‘green’ transport system that helps reduce carbon. It will better connect the country’s major cities and economic hubs and help deliver a stronger, more balanced economy, better able to compete on the global stage
Want to hear more from Mark? Join him at Accelerate: Rail being held at Hilton Tower Bridge, London on 21 March, where he will be giving overviews and insights into HS2’s development.
Check out our website for more details.
