All kinds of businesses in North Wales are being urged to seize the new HS2 contract that is set to be made available soon.

Over 100 firms attended a supply chain roadshow which was organised alongside Construction Future Wales to discover how they will be able to bid for work on the scheme, which is anticipated to make some of the highest value contracts in the history of the construction industry.

Similar events in Newcastle, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Leicester and Liverpool have attracted almost 600 people so far where they have learnt about how they can take advantage of the HS2 opportunities that are worth billions of pounds.

HS2 construction is set to commence next year and will cost nearly £60bn, with the project’s first phase from Birmingham to London set to be complete in the next 10 years.

It is forecast that the second phase of the project, which will run all the way up to Crewe, will be complete by 2027, before phase three will see an extension to Leeds and Manchester which will be complete by 2033.

The project is set to create about 25,000 construction jobs in total along with 20,000 apprenticeships.

Recently, construction started on the two National College for High Speed Rail sites in Birmingham and Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

When it opens in September next year, thousands of workers will attend the college to learn the essential skills that will enable them to build and run the high speed rail line, along with future infrastructure projects.

Roadshows like the one held in North Wales last month are set to be staged in Coventry, London, Cambridge and Bristol where large, medium and small firms will be encouraged to learn as much as they can about the HS2 scheme.

Robert Goodwill, UK Transport Minister, said that the government’s ground breaking HS2 project will provide a great opportunity for UK businesses, including those in Wales.