Lincolnshire company contracted for HS2 Green Corridor

Crowders Nurseries, a nationally renowned wholesale grower of trees and shrubs based in Lincolnshire, has been contracted to supply seven million trees and shrubs for the HS2 Green Corridor.

The company has likewise been contracted to create more than 650 hectares of new woodland along the Phase One route for HS2, on which 350,000 trees have already been planted to create 46 areas of new habitat for wildlife.

HS2 CEO, Mark Thurston stated: “Crowders is helping HS2 deliver our vision for a ‘Green Corridor’, helping HS2 meet its target for biodiversity no net loss and be the most sustainable high-speed railway of its kind in the world.

“We will plant seven million trees, covering an area of 33sq km, with more than 40 species of tree, including those native to each area the railway passes through.”

Crowders Nurseries currently employ 50 local people and have also begun hiring within their new apprenticeship programme, having hired three apprentices already in 2019.

Managing Director of Crowder’s Nurseries, Robert Crowder stated: “Since being awarded the contract to deliver the supply of plants to HS2, we have embarked on a ‘Journey of Excellence’, adopting new standards across our company which will benefit our company for years to come.

“We have made considerable progress in the first 3 years of this contract and expect to improve further as the project scales up over the next 7 years to completion.”

The delivery of HS2 currently provides approximately 9,000 jobs nationwide across a total of 250 sites but, at its peak, the project is predicted to provide 30,000 jobs as well as 2,000 apprenticeships, of which over 320 apprentices have already been taken on.

In addition to these figures, 2,000 businesses, 98% of them being British, have been contracted to provide work on HS2 while the supply chain for what has been dubbed as ‘Britain’s largest infrastructure project’ is predicted to provide thousands of opportunities.

It has been projected that every ten tier one major contracts, within the encompassing project, will present over 10,000 indirect supply chain opportunities to businesses across the country.

HS2 Ltd launched its Skills, Education and Employment Strategy back in 2018.

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