News

• Volunteers from HS2 and its contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) have planted 300 tree saplings at Corley Academy near Coventry
• The trees were donated by HS2 part of the Queen’s Green Canopy tree planting initiative
• 300 biodegradable tree guards were also donated by Northants company Ezee Tree Ltd
• Photos here: https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/resources/f/environment/tree-planting-2/trees-donated-to-corley-academy 
• Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXCZCJ5scGY

HS2 Ltd has partnered with Queens Park Rangers football club to give its youth team squad a unique insight into life on a construction site with a visit to the site of HS2’s Old Oak Common superhub station.

• Since 2017, HS2’s ecologists have planted around 845,000 trees and created 119 new habitat sites, covering an area equal to 650 football pitches.
• 160 new ponds are now homes for wildlife, 2,000 bat boxes installed, and thousands of newts successfully translocated.
• Pictures of mature trees, ponds and wildflower meadows through the summer months: https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/resources/f/environment/tree-planting-2/five-years-of-tree-planting 
• Video here: HS2 celebrates five years of tree planting and habitat creation - YouTube

Today [Thursday 24 November] HS2 Ltd’s CEO Mark Thurston hosted Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt and Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street at HS2’s Interchange Station construction site in Solihull.

• The 2,000 tonne tunnel boring machine ‘Dorothy’ sets off for second tunnel drive under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire
• The first one-mile tunnel bore was completed in July this year – the first breakthrough on the HS2 project
• This is the sixth tunnel launch on the project, but the first time a TBM has been reused
• Photos here: https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/resources/f/construction/midlands-tunnels-and-cuttings/long-itchington-wood-tunnel-2/dorothy-tbm-relaunch-for-second-tunnel-drive 
• Time lapse of TBM reassembly: HS2 Time-lapse: TBM Dorothy reassembled for re-launch at Long Itchington Wood Tunnel North Portal, Sep - Nov 2022 (vimeo.com)

HS2’s Community & Environment Fund has provided a £75,000 grant to restore the Darnford Moors section of the canal, transforming the area into a wildlife haven.