HS2 has awarded the contract to build the substructure foundations at Birmingham Curzon Street station to civil engineering specialist MPB Structures.

The contract is the first in a series of major awards at the site, which is being managed by main contractor Mace Dragados Joint Venture.

Around 140 people from MPB started working at Curzon Street in January, but news of the contract has only now been released. The work includes removing 65,000 cubic metres of earth, using around 17,000 cubic metres of concrete to install 417 pile caps, and over 4,700 tonnes of reinforcing steel to make the station’s ground beams.

They will also be waterproofing the new concrete structures, building drainage and also constructing the attenuation tanks to store rainwater for recycling.

HS2’s project client director for Curzon Street Dave Lock said: ‘This contract award marks the next stage of our construction programme to build the flagship Curzon Street station, and we’re delighted to have MPB on board. Further contracts will be awarded in the coming months as we move towards starting on the main station structure next year.’