HS2’s civics partner, Balfour Beatty VINCI has opened a construction compound in Kingsbury, Warwickshire, comprising a giant outdoor factory and training academy, and will commence production on the Delta Junction this summer
The 550,00 square metre site (equivalent to 74 football pitches) will be the workplace for around 1,000 apprentices, graduates and employees. The outdoor factory provides the opportunity for production to begin immediately and give trainees first-hand experience of working in construction.
BBV ‘s head of learning and development, Vicki Lovatt said: “Being on the doorstep of where HS2 is actually being built makes it the perfect environment for our learners and ensures the training and development programmes we deliver feel real.”
The Kingsbury Skills Academy opened its doors in February 2022 and over 9,000 hours of training and over 1,000 job-specific courses have already been delivered, covering everything from working at height and in confined spaces to first aid and mental health awareness.
Kingsbury will begin production on the Delta Junction this summer
The Delta Junction comprises the triangular section of line where the new railway runs north towards Crewe and curves west towards Birmingham. The outdoor factory and training academy will produce almost 3,000 precision designed concrete segments to form the network of nine viaducts within the Delta Junction.
In total, 2,742 segments will be produced from materials mixed at the on-site batching plant and at peak production, the pre-cast yard is expected to turn out up to eight segments per day, weighing between 60 and 80 tonnes. The segments are built in two different sizes, with the larger design (2.6m length x 10.5m width x 3.5m height) used for the double track sections of the railway.
BBV expects production to begin this August, with on-site assembly of the segments for the Delta Junction viaducts due to start next summer. Work is underway to assemble a 54 metre-long gantry crane that will lift each segment during the manufacturing cycle.
“Ensuring sustainability” with Modern Methods of Construction
Jo Chell, head of delivery programme management at BBV, said:
“We have embedded the principles of ‘Modern Methods of Construction’, by creating factory conditions for manufacture and modularisation, providing us with a rich legacy of skills and learning for the future.
“Ensuring sustainability was a fundamental part of the design and we have established several hectares of wildflower meadows and wetland, together with valuable bat habitat, all within the site boundaries.”
