MORE jobs are to be created as booming Flintshire firms continue their hard work towards a major national transport project, it has been revealed.

Mark Thurston, CEO of High Speed 2 (HS2), visited Flintshire’s Aviation park to visit the two companies - Palmers and Datascope - to talk to staff working on the project and talk about the opportunities HS2 can bring for businesses and people in the region.

HS2 is a high-speed railway under construction which will directly connect London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds and Manchester.

 

Since working on the project, employment at Datascope has increased from three people to 75 and it is hoped during the course of the year more jobs will be created as they continue the development of a user interface which can track deliveries and update on delivery times.

This allows for less congestion in the surrounding areas and contractors can keep up to date on where work will be taking place and when.

Richard Bailey, director of sales at Datascope, told the Leader: “We found the project has driven a lot of enthusiasm with the developers and engineers out in the field actually working on the project. It’s exciting and unique, bringing different challenges to the workforce and hopefully brought something different to the project.

HS2 - timelapse of the Euston scaffolding structure

“From user experience we’ve found that we’ve designed the system to be very intuitive so can be used by a range of different trades and operators. Feedback so far has been excellent.”

Also working on the national project is Palmers Scaffolding, based in Flint who are providing the scaffolding to reduce working from height injuries. These platforms are able to move with ease when needed without dismantling it.

 

Mark Thurston was told how although the main work is based in London, it is local people completing the jobs and the company has a large local supply chain, from places such as Chester Chain and Flintshire Fabrications.

Colin Butt, CEO of Palmers Scaffolding, said: “It’s tremendous, to have the opportunity to work with CSJV (Costain Skanska Joint Venture) and HS2 is fantastic for local people too. All of our scaffolders are employed by the local area from Chester, North Wales and Wirral and some from Liverpool. We also use the local businesses around here to do sub contract work we have.

“Its a great opportunity.”

Mark Thurston, CEO of HS2, said it was great to see the local businesses and their role in the project and to see up close the technology that is being developed and applied.

He added: “It’s been fascinating to come here to Flintshire to see a family-run business doing what they are doing. I’m looking forward to seeing the scaffolding in action first hand at our site in London where it’s being used.

 

“I think that’s one of the beauties of HS2. It’s a national project that’s going to be around for another 15 years so it creates opportunities right across the country. Today we’ve got some 2,000 companies already working on it, somewhere in excess of 7,000 people and that’s just going to grow, over the next five years we will probably double that workforce.

“Construction is recognised as one of the sectors that needs to modernise itself. What we are seeing up close here is real great examples of the way construction is doing exactly that. That’s why HS2 is so important. We are going to be a major national project for many years to come so the opportunity for this technology to get more widespread and the way we do business is very exciting.”