HS2 awards Birmingham depot and control centre contract in £856m deal
HS2 has confirmed that Taylor Woodrow Infrastructure and Aureos Rail (TWA JV) will build the high-speed railway’s control centre and rolling stock depot in a deal set to transform a brown field site in Birmingham into a major new business and logistics hub supporting more than a thousand jobs.
image: HS2
The contract – worth around £856m – will see the joint venture work with HS2 to develop the disused 70-hectare site of the former LDV and Metro-Cammell works in Washwood Heath.
The new depot will cover around 30-hectares and include a state-of-the-art rolling stock maintenance building, carriage wash, automatic vehicle inspection building and sidings where high-speed trains can be stored overnight as well as a test track.
Also on the same site will be the Network Integrated Control Centre (NICC), where staff will manage the dispatch of trains, communicate with drivers and ensure that services run smoothly.
Separate buildings will house offices and facilities for cleaners and drivers. The remaining area will be released for commercial development and used to create new green spaces and wildlife habitat.
According to 2021 Census data, Washwood Heath is ranked among the most deprived areas in the UK, with roughly 77% of households experiencing deprivation in at least one dimension.
The new depot, which according to the 2021 Census data is in one of the UK’s most deprived areas, will provide valuable high skilled jobs, with around a thousand long-term jobs expected to be created at the site – as well as around 500 temporary roles during construction.
Lord Hendy, Rail Minister said, “Washwood Heath and the wider HS2 programme will create thousands of jobs across the West Midlands - from the construction teams transforming this former industrial site, to the skilled workforce who will operate this state-of-the-art facility for decades to come. Together, they will help deliver faster, more reliable rail journeys across the UK.
“HS2 continues to reach major milestones as we work to get the project back on track and unlock its full potential to drive economic growth, jobs, and homes across the country.”
The Washwood Heath site – which sits alongside the A47 Heartlands Parkway and the existing railway - was a hub of railway manufacturing for over a century. The current Pendolino trains operated by Avanti between London and Birmingham, were amongst the last trains to be built on the site before it closed in 2005.
Steve Cox, HS2 Area Director said, “The new depot and control centre at Washwood Heath will be at the heart of our day-to-day operation and play a crucial role in the testing and commissioning of the railway.
“Taylor Woodrow and Aureos have a great track record delivering complex infrastructure projects and I look forward to working with them over the coming years.”
Taylor Woodrow and Aureos have a strong track record delivering similarly complex infrastructure projects in the UK and Europe including Kings Cross and Whitechapel stations and the Elizabeth Line depot as well as Old Oak Common on HS2.
HS2’s construction partner in the West Midlands, Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), has already made a significant amount of progress at Washwood Heath, levelling the disused industrial buildings and cleaning the earth to remove harmful contaminants left from a century of heavy industry and preparing the site for the start of construction.
Along the northern edge of the site, BBV engineers recently completed a 750m-long retained cutting that will carry trains down into the Bromford tunnel on their way out of Birmingham.
Work is also progressing to the west of the site, where BBV is building a series of viaducts that will carry services into the new Curzon Street station in the city centre.