HS2 Ltd has begun the search for a specialist contractor to build the high speed rail project’s central control centre and maintenance depot, creating about 500 long-term jobs in Birmingham’s Washwood Heath.

The contract, which is worth an estimated £275 million, will see the winning bidder work with HS2 to transform the 30-hectare brownfield site into the nerve centre of the HS2 network.

From this location, next to the main line into Birmingham Curzon Street, HS2’s fleet of high-speed trains will be serviced and maintained, 24hr a day, seven days a week. The depot will include a 40,000m² rolling stock maintenance building, carriage wash, automatic vehicle inspection building, and 14 sidings where trains can be stored overnight.

Also on the same site will be the Network Integrated Control Centre, the centre of the network’s ‘state of the art’ signalling and control systems, as well as office buildings for cleaners and drivers.

David Poole, HS2 Ltd’s commercial director, said: “The start of the search for a contractor to build Washwood Heath is a real milestone for the HS2 project and a huge long-term opportunity for the area. With main works civils construction now well underway, we are putting the specialist team in place to support operation of the new railway.

“Washwood Heath will be at the heart of the operation, and around 500 high skilled jobs based at the depot will be a major boost for the community.”

The Washwood Heath site was formerly home to the disused Metro-Cammell railway works, which closed in 2004. A team from HS2’s early works contractor LM (the joint venture between Laing O’Rourke and J Murphy & Sons Ltd,), completed the demolition of the buildings on the site last year, ready for the start of construction.

Bidders are expected to be shortlisted for the single-stage design and build contract in the summer, with ‘contract award’ in 2023.