HS2 contractor on major recruitment drive

Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), HS2’s construction partner, is launching a major recruitment drive.

The company hopes to add new people to its teams as it prepares to deliver work through 2022 and beyond.

So far, it has about 1,700 staff at sites and in satellite offices in Solihull, Warwickshire and Birmingham.

The calendar looks busy for the HS2 project – with tunnel boring machine ‘Dorothy’ set to breakthrough in spring. When this boring machine makes this significant milestone it will return to Long Itchington to bore a second tunnel.

Work is also gathering pace at HS2’s two new station sites – Interchange in Solihull and Curzon Street in Birmingham — where preparatory works are underway to construct the series of viaducts that will bring HS2 trains into the city’s flagship terminus station.

With this work forthcoming, a range of positions are available in offices and on site.

Jobs for those seeking a site-based role include materials technicians, signallers, general operatives, traffic marshalls and engineering assistants. Office-based roles include opportunities in Balfour Beatty VINCI’s procurement, transport planning, skills and education and finance teams. In total, Balfour Beatty VINCI expects that it will support around 7,000 jobs to deliver its programme of work on HS2.

There are also ‘taster’ opportunities, for those considering whether a career in construction is in fact for them. Linked to a dedicated programme of free-training, Balfour Beatty VINCI is investing in upskilling local people at its new Skills Academy based within South and City College’s Bordesley Green campus. From here it offers a wide range of free training courses that provide students with the accreditation and skills they need to progress into entry-level roles.

Shilpi Akbar, head of stakeholders and communities at Balfour Beatty VINCI said: “Having already achieved a number of significant milestones in the construction of Britain’s new high-speed railway, there has never been a better, or more exciting time to consider joining Balfour Beatty VINCI.

“As we work to bring HS2 to the region, we have a monumental construction programme ahead of us. With thousands of career opportunities in the pipeline, across a multitude  of disciplines, we are committed to giving people of all backgrounds the chance to develop and hone new and existing skills, while working to deliver one of Europe’s largest infrastructure projects.”

For details of all the latest and upcoming vacancies working on HS2, visit hs2.org.uk/careers/

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