Balfour Beatty today announces that it has been awarded a £52 million contract on behalf of HS2, to deliver environmental works across the route from West Midlands to Crewe. The contract has been awarded through the SCAPE Civil Engineering framework, to which the company was appointed as sole contractor in 2018.
As part of the contract, Balfour Beatty will create a number of new environmental habitats along the 64-kilometre section of Europe’s largest infrastructure project, including woodland and wetlands.
In addition, the company will plant thousands of trees covering the equivalent of 86 football pitches; more than 18 miles of new hedge rows; and enough grassland meadows to cover 140 football pitches, to encourage wildflowers and insects to flourish.
Having launched its sustainability strategy, Building New Futures, last year, this latest contract award supports Balfour Beatty’s bold and ambitious targets of going beyond net zero and positively impacting more than one million people by 2040.
The award follows Royal Assent in February 2021 for the latest 36-mile section of the railway, which will open with HS2’s first section to provide seamless low carbon high speed services between Crewe, West Midlands and London and link to the mainline for direct services northwards.
Mark Bullock, Chief Executive Officer of Balfour Beatty’s UK Construction Services business, said: “Balfour Beatty’s contract with HS2 builds on our “Building New Futures” strategy through which we’re committed to leaving a lasting positive legacy for the communities in which we operate.
“Our work on the route between Crewe and the West Midlands will build a better, greener future for everyone - through our ongoing and essential work to protect the environment, and our continued focus on providing employment opportunities for local businesses and people.”
Commenting, HS2 Ltd Phase 2a delivery director Colette Carroll said: “We said that we wanted to bring the benefits of HS2 to the north earlier than originally planned, and this early environmental works contract with Balfour Beatty on the new route to Crewe will put that promise into action.
“Creating new wildlife habitat and compensating for areas that will be unavoidably affected by the new railway is a crucial early stage in building HS2. And we have an ambition to go further by seeing how we might help environments to support a greater range of flora and fauna than was there before the line.”
Mark Robinson, group chief executive of SCAPE said: “Ensuring construction projects create a sustainable, positive legacy has never been more important, as the UK takes strides towards its net zero target. Both SCAPE and Balfour Beatty are committed to protecting and enhancing the environment through best practice and creating these new habitats will help to improve biodiversity, strengthen our ecosystems and protect local wildlife.”
Early works are already underway with completion scheduled in Spring 2023. At peak construction, the project will employ a workforce of over 200 people as well as a number of graduate and apprenticeship positions.
ENDS
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Notes to editors:
- Balfour Beatty is a leading international infrastructure group with 26,000 employees driving the delivery of powerful new solutions, shaping thinking, creating skylines and inspiring a new generation of talent to be the change-makers of tomorrow.
- We finance, develop, build, maintain and operate the increasingly complex and critical infrastructure that supports national economies and deliver projects at the heart of local communities.
- Over the last 111 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including: the £1.5 billion A14 improvement scheme - Britain’s biggest road project; Hong Kong’s HK$5.5 billion world-class harbour theatre project for the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority; and the 12.5 mile $429 million North Metro Commuter Rail line in Colorado, US.
- Balfour Beatty’s UK and Ireland regional construction business is a leading integrator of complex, sophisticated and innovative projects that improve national infrastructure.
- Successfully delivering efficient and sustainable projects at the heart of local communities as well as those of national significance, we work closely and collaboratively with our customers to always leave behind a positive, lasting legacy and deliver benefit for the communities in which we operate.
- Significant projects in its current portfolio include includes the £267 million Midlands Metropolitan hospital contract to deliver the main construction works to the 80,000 square metre hospital on behalf of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, the £287 million Manchester Engineering Campus Development which represents one of the largest capital developments ever undertaken by a UK higher education institution, the £150 million contract to deliver the main construction works for the 53-storey Madison Tower in Canary Wharf and the £170 million contract to upgrade baggage screening and handling systems at Heathrow Airport.
- Notable projects of the past include the £46 million foundation works at One Nine Elms in Vauxhall, a £28 million contract to regenerate a region to the south of Battersea Power Station, the £40 million renovation and extension of the Grade II listed Bristol Fry Building providing state-of-the-art mathematic facilities for The University of Bristol, the £85 million Vine Street student accommodation in the City of London on behalf of Urbanest and the £28.5 million Dundee railway station on behalf of Dundee City Council, forming a part of the Council’s regeneration programme and aiming to create a strong and sustainable city economy that will raise the quality of life and improve the local environment.
