Leaders from the High Speed Rail Industry are holding their annual conference in Leeds on Tuesday 12 June.
Taking place at Leeds College of Music, the free conference’s theme will be ‘How HS2 can stimulate private sector investment and regeneration’
BBC Breakfast business presenter Steph McGovern will be chairing the event which will include keynote addresses and panel discussions featuring senior transport industry figures, politicians and local authority officials from Leeds City Region and across the UK.
CONFIRMED
Speakers and panelists already confirmed include Mark Thurston, Chief Executive at HS2 Ltd, Shadow Rail Minister Rachael Maskell MP, Cllr Judith Blake, Leader of Leeds City Council, Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, West Yorkshire Combined Authority Chair and Bradford Council Leader, Paul Griffiths, Phase 2b Director of HS2 Ltd, Dyan Crowther, Chief Executive of High Speed 1 and Clair Mowbray, Chief Executive at the National College of High Speed Rail.
More than just a transport project, HS2 is seen as vital to supporting transformational local economic growth. Across West Yorkshire and the Leeds City Region, it is forecast to result in the creation of up to 50,000 additional jobs by 2050 as well as enhancing its image as a place to visit and invest.
MULTINATIONALS TO SMES
The rail sector’s complexity means that its suppliers range from multinationals to SME component suppliers and niche technology companies providing manufacturing, engineering, digital, material technologies and services.
The Federation of Small Business says that 60 per cent of the 7,000 supply chain contract opportunities that HS2 will create are expected to go to small firms. HS2 has already held a number of events to ensure small businesses are involved in the project, including regional roadshows and Meet the Contractor events.
CATALYST
HS2 can also act as a catalyst for developing the knowledge economy sector. Influential economic think-tank Centre for Cities has recognised Leeds City Region. as a leader in the UK’s reinvention as a knowledge-led economy. Its economy is underpinned by world-leading research, one of Europe’s largest teaching hospitals, the UK’s best university, over £600m of investment in academic infrastructure currently on-site or in the pipeline and the largest population of millennials in the Northern Powerhouse.
The arrival of HS2 will mean Leeds Station, already the busiest in the north, is transformed into a world-class transport gateway, incorporating commercial development and adjacent to Leeds South Bank, the largest regeneration project in Europe.
EXPERTISE
Representing companies with experience of delivering major infrastructure projects around the world and expertise in engineering, operations, funding and regulation, the High Speed Rail Industry Leaders group is a UK centre of excellence in high-speed rail.
June’s conference in Leeds aims to highlight the huge scale of opportunities HS2 can deliver to supporters and investors on top of the investment and regional growth it is already stimulating.
Places at the conference are limited and are being offered on an invitation basis.
Email hsril@wearefield.co.uk to secure your place.
Find out more about plans to maximise the benefits of HS2 across Leeds City Region at www.southbankleeds.co.uk
For more information about the High Speed Rail Industry Leaders and their work visit;
