{"id":67278,"date":"2016-02-04T13:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T13:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=d3b13b8d6fe9030e78e81bbbdccaa89c"},"modified":"2016-02-04T13:05:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T13:05:00","slug":"news-story-hs2-moves-closer-to-construction-as-transport-secretary-officially-opens-birmingham-headquarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=67278","title":{"rendered":"News story: HS2 moves closer to construction as Transport Secretary officially opens Birmingham headquarters"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<ul>\n<li>Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin opens <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> <abbr title=\"Limited\">Ltd<\/abbr>\u2019s headquarters in Birmingham, at the heart of the <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> network<\/li>\n<li>\n<abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> to play a vital role in boosting jobs, skills, growth and regeneration<\/li>\n<li>final petitions requesting changes to the <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> Phase One hybrid Bill are heard in the House of Commons, bringing <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> a step closer to construction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> <abbr title=\"Limited\">Ltd<\/abbr>\u2019s headquarters in Birmingham were officially opened by the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin today, Thursday 4 February 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Up to 1,000 staff will be employed at <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> <abbr title=\"Limited\">Ltd<\/abbr>\u2019s offices in Birmingham\u2019s Colmore Business District, from engineers who will help design the railway to procurement specialists.<\/p>\n<p>The official opening coincided with the final week of petitions in relation to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/high-speed-rail-london-west-midlands-bill\"><abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> Phase One hybrid Bill<\/a> being heard in the House of Commons Select Committee. This marks a significant step towards the Bill, which will provide the planning permission for Phase One of the High Speed 2 (<abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr>) route between London and the West Midlands, being passed and construction starting on the line.<\/p>\n<p>Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> will rebalance our economy, helping make the Midlands an \u2018engine for growth\u2019. The official opening of the headquarters here in Birmingham is proof that <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> is already boosting jobs and skills, and will continue to do so as we head towards construction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">This week we have taken another step towards putting spades in the ground as the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/business\/committees\/committees-a-z\/commons-select\/high-speed-rail-london-west-midlands-bill-select-committee-commons\/\">Commons Select Committee<\/a> has been hearing the final petitions on the Phase One Bill. I would like to pay tribute to members of the Committee, as well as those who have brought forward petitions. We have listened to residents and communities and I am pleased that in many cases we have been able to make the changes they have been calling for.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"HS2 in Birmingham infographic.\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/49534\/960-hs2-birmingham-final.jpg\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Birmingham will be at the heart of the <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> network, with new stations at Curzon Street and Birmingham Interchange when the Phase One route opens in 2026. Connections north to Crewe will open in 2027, with the lines to Leeds and Manchester due to be completed by 2033. <\/p>\n<p>Phase One of <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> between London and the West Midlands is estimated to support up to 14,600 construction jobs, 2,200 permanent operations and maintenance jobs, and 30,300 jobs supported by development around <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> stations in Euston, Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange and Birmingham Curzon Street. <\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> <abbr title=\"Limited\">Ltd<\/abbr> Chairman Sir David Higgins, said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The arrival of <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> in Birmingham will play a vital role in boosting jobs, skills, economic growth and regeneration across the city.<\/p>\n<p>Britain\u2019s second city is at the heart of the <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> network and I am delighted that the Secretary of State has today officially opened our headquarters at 2 Snowhill, as the project moves towards construction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">I am proud <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> has chosen Birmingham as its future home to house up to 1,000 staff to deliver the largest infrastructure project Britain has seen for decades.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The petitioning process gives those affected by <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> the opportunity to raise issues and voice concerns about the plans for the route between the West Midlands and London. Over the last 17 months, the <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> Commons Select Committee, chaired by Robert Syms <abbr title=\"Member of Parliament\">MP<\/abbr>, has heard almost 2,600 petitions, many of which have led to changes to the Bill. This will ensure that <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> is designed in the best way possible.<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> Phase One hybrid Bill is expected to achieve Royal Assent by December 2016. Construction on the London to Birmingham route is due to start in 2017.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_1021\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>\n<abbr title=\"High Speed 2\">HS2<\/abbr> and major projects media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Press enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 3068\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out of hours<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 4292\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Public enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              0300 330 3000\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Up to 1,000 staff to be employed at HS2 Ltd\u2019s Birmingham headquarters, plus final petitions to the Phase One hybrid Bill heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}