The UK’s specialist trade association for metal-forming has turned its attention to the “billions of pounds on offer” to SMEs in the rail industry’s supply chains.
The Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM) (
www.thecbm.co.uk) is holding an event at its headquarters in West Bromwich on 22 November to make members aware of the lucrative work that will be “up for grabs in the coming years”.
The CBM’s chief executive, Geraldine Bolton, estimates that £48 billion of contracts for HS2 and ‘the Metro’ — including new engines, carriages, lineside equipment, tracks, stations and digital infrastructure — will come forward between 2019 and 2024.
She said “The scale of opportunities is remarkable, so we are keen to ensure that our members are fully informed about this work, what they need to do to bid for these contracts and how they must engage with the organisations that are awarding them.
“We held a similar event focusing purely on HS2, but now we are widening the scope to include opportunities being created by the expansion of the Midland Metro Alliance’s operations, including its projects in Birmingham, Brierley Hill, Solihull, Wednesbury and Wolverhampton.
“We will take a detailed look at the upcoming supply-chain requirements of the MMA, plus the timings of its different schemes.”
The event is free to CBM members and to non-members.
The speakers include: Rachel Eade of RED Developments, who has spent more than 20 years “helping SMEs in supply chains in advanced engineering sectors”; Marion Doherty, an international trade adviser with the Department for International Trade, who leads on the infrastructure and energy sectors in the West Midlands; and Rob Emms, managing director of Walsall-based Bernstein Ltd, who will provide a case study on how his company won work from the rail industry.