Hundreds of HS2 apprenticeships to be created in the West Midlands
HS2 has revealed another job boost for the West Midlands as it plans to create 200 apprenticeships.
Twenty contractors who are working on behalf of HS2’s construction partner Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), came together on the first day of National Apprenticeship Week to sign a pledge promising to invest in upskilling 200 more local people. Each firm will ensure at least 5% of their total workforce are apprentices.
BBV itself also announced it will be recruiting more than 40 apprentices in civil engineering, quantity surveying, information management and document control, adding to the 165 apprentices it has already employed for HS2.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands said: “HS2 has the potential to have a transformational impact here in our region and its construction is already supporting thousands of local jobs.
“The employment opportunities created by HS2 are significant and I’m pleased to see businesses winning HS2 contracts are stepping forward to ensure local people benefit”.
More than 400 of the region’s businesses have now won work on HS2 and are looking to bolster their teams as work picks up.
In anticipation for the next giant tunnel boring machine’s take off, Tunnelcraft is recruiting for ten tunnelling operative apprentices who will join the team tasked with excavating the 3.5mile twin bore route between Washwood Heath and Water Orton.
Mott MacDonald and Systra, a design joint venture working in partnership with BBV to deliver HS2, is also beginning its search for digital design and business administration apprentices, whilst Flannery is recruiting for more plant operative apprentices.
Shilpi Akbar, Head of Stakeholder and Communities at Balfour Beatty VINCI, added: “We’ve set ourselves an ambitious target of making sure one in every 20 employees at Balfour Beatty VINCI is an apprentice, which is 5% of our workforce.
“Our pledge to create new opportunities and employ over 200 apprentices within BBV and our supply chain is a big step towards achieving this goal.”
HS2 Ltd also confirmed today that it will recruit 21 new apprentices, across its project management, HR, business administration, procurement, land referencing and surveying teams. 15 of which will be based at its headquarters in Birmingham city centre.
