HS2 construction headquarters coming to Birmingham

HS2's construction headquarters will be based in Birmingham, bringing up to 1,500 jobs to the city, the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, has announced.

The announcement was made on 21 July, when Mr McLoughlin and the HS2 Ltd chairman, Sir David Higgins, joined council leader Sir Albert Bore to launch a new company to lead the regeneration of the area around the planned HS2 station at Curzon Street.

1,500 jobs

The new headquarters will house up to 1,500 HS2 Ltd staff, with the first part expected to open from 2015. Some employees will move from London, but most of the jobs will be new, highly skilled roles, including the engineers and designers responsible for the detailed plans for the track, stations and signalling.

The Curzon regeneration company

The Birmingham Curzon Urban Regeneration Company will lead the redevelopment of the heart of the city centre around the new station. Its plans aim to redevelop more than 140 hectares of land, create 14,000 jobs, provide 600,000 square metres of new employment space and space for 2,000 homes, and contribute up to £1.3 billion a year to the local economy.

The area's Growth Deal will provide a further £130 million to speed up the regeneration, and help bring forward the extension of the Midland Metro to link the HS2 station directly to the local transport network.

"A national capital for engineering"

Sir Albert Bore said: "Since the industrial revolution, Birmingham has been a national capital for engineering, so it is only natural that the HS2 construction HQ be based in Birmingham."

"HS2 is an important step in rebalancing the country's economy, supporting growth in the regions and encouraging more inward investment into the city."

Mr McLoughlin said: "By locating the new HS2 engineering HQ in Birmingham we are bringing skilled job opportunities into the area, spreading HS2's benefits beyond those using the new rail line."

Sir David Higgins said the lasting impact of HS2 would be determined by how successfully local areas used it as a catalyst to transform their economies, and that the regeneration company would be hugely important as an example to other cities along the route.

About HS2

HS2 is a planned high-speed railway that will link London and Birmingham in the first phase, with later phases extending to Manchester and Leeds. The Birmingham terminus will be at Curzon Street in Eastside, close to the site of the city's original railway terminus, which opened in 1838.

The legislation needed for the first phase is currently going through Parliament, where hundreds of people and organisations affected by the route have lodged petitions against it.

Supporters say the line will bring Birmingham within 49 minutes of London, and free up space on existing lines for more local and freight trains. Critics question its cost and its impact on the countryside along the route. For Birmingham, the construction headquarters is an early sign of the benefits its backers have promised.