HS2 Enabling Works Area Central

Design and build enabling works including utility diversions, ecological habitat sites, highway upgrades and internal access roads, to ensure the route was prepared, to facilitate commencement of Main Works scope for the HS2 central section. 

Project overview

We were responsible for managing: 

• Advanced works, including species mitigation, utility diversions, archaeology and access roads  

• Complex stakeholder interfaces 

• Design development, from outline design 

We appointed AECOM as our Lead Designer. We developed the scope of each package and coordinated all the design types, developed by AECOM, including: 

• Ecology Mitigation Design for flora, fauna and Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) 

• Habitats, species translocation, advanced planting, INNS treatment 

• Civils design 

• Roads and haul roads, including a 4.5km paved haul road 

• Utilities 

• Archaeology 

For sequencing works over the 2,200 land parcels, we developed our Field-Based Planning (FBP) system, a digital environment with multi-layered representations of each land parcel which we developed sequencing of works packages. 

We developed a project supply chain package delivery strategy for 11 main work programme packages, split geographically and comprising over 400,000, focusing on local suppliers to maximise local spend.  

We undertook 1,338ha geophysical surveys, followed by digging 5,593 trial trenches.  

Following trial trenching, upon identification of archaeological findings, we dug 427 test pits and undertook 106ha of hand dug excavations. Significant excavations were undertaken across the route, including a burial site (St Mary’s Church), where we managed 3,000 exhumations and created a field museum for local interest.