Crossrail to extend to Reading and Twyford and Crossrail 2 to start 2019
Posted by Steve Thomas on Friday, May 30, 2014
It’s been an exciting time in the infrastructure industry in the UK over the past few years. Some big projects have been mooted and developed. Not least of these is Crossrail the biggest project of its kind in Europe. Maxim Recruitment works tirelessly to build relationships with recruitment contacts on projects of this calibre to offer the best in UK engineering jobs as well as project management jobs and of course, UK quantity surveying jobs, all of which are jobs needed to deliver these large projects on time and on budget.
Ear to the Ground
The word on the street (or should that be track?) seems to be Crossrail. It’s coming up in many contexts from keeping workers happy to unnecessary concerns over disruption for commuters. Just over a month ago reports noted that three quarters of the tunnelling was complete although the tunnelling in full will not be complete until the beginning of 2015.
More Crossrail Construction Job Opportunities
The extension to take the line as far west as Reading costing an additional £2billion does not involve tunnelling. Current lines and the station will be upgraded so even existing services benefit. There will be new or extended platforms at Reading and several other stations getting an upgrade to accommodate the new 200 metre electric trains. There will also be the necessary installation of overhead cables from which the trains are powered.
This is no small project and it is not expected to be fully operational until 2019 though there will staggered completions from 2015 when the engineering section should be complete.
On Track and on Time and on Budget
Coordination of the many facets of this project will be key to keeping this project on track (pun intended). How current UK project management teams and quantity surveyors achieve this may well affect the plans for Crossrail 2.
More UK QS and construction job opportunities
Transport for London is preparing the plans for Crossrail 2 and is confident that they will be given the go ahead in time for contracts to be ready in 2019. This would keep Crossrail on time to open in 2029 before its actual 2030 deadline. Now that is progress if it happens, a train way ahead of schedule. If this is the case Crossrail looks as though it won’t be hampered by old conceptions of the UK’s rail services.
Balfour Beatty Construction Services UK is calling for early collaboration with the construction teams. Their chief executive, Nick Pollard is keen to get a top leadership team in place as early as 2016/2017. The TfL however fears that parliament won’t be in a position to move that fast.
UK QS, engineering and project management opportunities
What this does mean is that some top quality UK jobs in the major areas of engineering, construction and quantity surveying will be available to progress this second phase.
Maxim Recruitment will of course be your first port of call for these crème de la crème positions for this large project. We will certainly be looking for outlets in areas of large scale infrastructure projects such as this one in the UK. Keep in touch with us and what’s coming up. Get your CV ready and perhaps call us for a chat? If you’d like to discuss opportunities further, why not give us a call on 0870 243 0446 or submit your CV via the Maxim Recruitment website.
Steve Thomas / Adam Cadwaladr
Maxim Recruitment UK