Responsible business, people and workplace
The HS2 project is already delivering many different benefits for people across the UK. Whether it is training and skills for the workforce of the future or jobs today, our Skills, Employment and Education activities are crucial to leaving a positive legacy of a highly skilled and diverse workforce.
We are making sure HS2 is inclusive and accessible to everyone. Our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives are innovative and effective as we raise standards for EDI in our sector.
Our Health and Safety culture is setting new standards too, raising the bar for how to build major projects in the UK.
Skills, employment and education
HS2 provides a fantastic opportunity to create new jobs, upskill our existing workforce and create a brand new industry in high speed rail for Britain to export around the world.
Our Skills, Employment and Education (SEE) activities are crucial to achieve this. They will leave a legacy of a highly skilled and diverse workforce able to deliver HS2 and future infrastructure projects. We work with schools, with our supply chain and through partnerships with organisations such as the Job Centre Plus and the Social Mobility Foundation.
How are we doing?
- By mid-2022 27,000 jobs nationwide were being supported by HS2.
- At peak construction, 34,000 people will be needed to design and build the railway. These job opportunities are nationwide, not just along the HS2 route.
- 950 people have already started an apprenticeship on the HS2 project either in the supply chain or with HS2 Ltd. HS2 will support some 2,000 apprenticeships during the life of the project.
- Over 2,200 people previously out of work have found employment on the project.
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
Making sure HS2 is inclusive and accessible to everyone is central to the way we work. As part of our design phase, we worked with train users to help build a railway that is accessible and inclusive to all.
Our work on equality, diversity and inclusion is organised under four themes: organisation, supply chain, communities, and design and operation.
Race at Work Charter
HS2 has shown its commitment to racial equality by signing up to Business in the Community’s Race at Work Charter, an initiative designed to improve employment outcomes for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) employees in the UK.