Taylor Woodrow has secured an £856 million contract to deliver HS2’s flagship train depot and control centre in Birmingham.

The contractor will carry out the major works at Washwood Heath in joint venture with Aureos Rail. The 70-hectare site, formerly home to LDV van manufacturing and Metro-Cammell, is set to become one of the most important operational hubs on the HS2 network.

The contract covers construction of HS2’s rolling stock maintenance depot, as well as the network integrated control centre. Once complete, the facility will oversee day-to-day railway operations, including train dispatch, driver communications and wider network management.

Around 500 construction jobs are expected to be supported during the build programme.

The Washwood Heath depot will include a main maintenance building, carriage wash, automatic vehicle inspection facility, overnight train stabling sidings and a dedicated test track. It will play a central role in keeping HS2 services running safely and efficiently once the line becomes operational.

The award is one of the first major contracts to be approved under the reset of the HS2 programme, led by Mark Wild, as ministers look to simplify delivery and bring costs under tighter control.

HS2 said the contract had undergone additional scrutiny from Wild and an independent review panel, following lessons learned from earlier civil engineering packages, the Stewart Review and Crossrail.

Construction partner BBV, the joint venture between Balfour Beatty and VINCI, has already completed significant remediation and enabling works on the heavily contaminated brownfield site.

Taylor Woodrow and Aureos Rail will now work with HS2 and the future operator to finalise designs before the scheme progresses into full construction, testing and commissioning.

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