Designers and engineers chosen to construct new station

ARCHITECTURE practices which worked on the Eden Project and Gateshead Millennium Bridge have been named among new design teams to deliver the HS2 stations in Birmingham and Solihull.

Grimshaw and Wilkinson Eyre, whose UK offices are both in London, will be part of a group of designers and engineers to lead construction of the new stations in Curzon Street, Birmingham, and Birmingham Interchange close to the NEC and airport. Further con- tracts have been awarded to help develop and refine the detailed plans for the two stations which are due to open in 2026.

WSP UK will be working with Grimshaw for Birmingham Curzon Street while Ove Arup & Partners International will team up with Arup Associates and Wilkinson Eyre on the Interchange station.

HS2 chief executive Mark Thurston said: “Our new stations in Birmingham and Solihull will be at the heart of the first phase of the project, increasing capacity, improving journeys and helping to unlock opportunities for tens of thousands of new jobs and homes around what will be two new landmark buildings.”

The new HS2 stations will be designed with input from local communities, using best practice principles from stations around the world, and guidelines and specifications endorsed by an independent panel of architects and designers.

The station developments form part of wider regeneration projects which are expected to create 50,000 jobs in Birmingham and Solihull in connection to the high speed rail project.

“The decision to appoint the teams to design the HS2 stations is an important step for a project which will have a truly transformational impact on the West Midlands,” said West Midlands Mayor Andy Street.

“In addition to the connectivity and economic benefits of the investment in high-speed rail infrastructure, the stations will play a key part in the future growth of the city.

“The stations will be so much more than a place to catch trains – they will be a catalyst, a gateway and a symbol of our resurgent region.”

A separate process to appoint firms to build Curzon Street and Interchange will begin later in the year.