• Awarded a key section of Phase One of the HS2 between London and Birmingham in 2017
• Design and build the Central 1 (C1) portion of HS2 - 22km of high-speed rail line infrastructure in the rural environment
• Route will free up space for local and freight services out of Euston
• C1 package Notice to Proceed granted April 2020 includes a 16.04km twin-bored tunnel with five ventilation shafts and a 3.4km viaduct across the Colne Valley
• Chiltern tunnels will be the longest and deepest tunnel bores on route
• Two tunnel boring machines will dig the tunnels starting from Align’s main site located to the west of London
• The 136-acre site will contain two concrete batching plants to manufacture segments for the viaduct and 118,000 segments for the tunnel
• Construction traffic minimised by creating slip roads from the M25
• Works will employ approximately 1,200 people and 50 apprentices

Picture captions:

1. HS2 Variable Density TBM, which is 170m long, weighs in excess of 2,000 tonnes with a diameter of 10.2m

2. Chalfont St Peter vent shaft headhouse, designed to fit in with the Chilterns location to simulate a barn

3. South Portal of the tunnels at Chalfont Lane site

4. Chalfont Lane site, soil nailing

5. Chalfont Lane site, soil nailing

6. Chalfont Lane site, South Portal compaction grouting

7. Chalfont St Peters, ground investigations

8. Load Test Pile 1

9. Load Test Pile 2