Work underway on a £200 million train building plant at Goole is the light at the end of the tunnel we all need, according to the Siemens executive on site.
Finbarr Dowling has swapped Hull’s blade manufacturing for rolling stock in Goole, and with the principal contractor now appointed, the 2023 arrival by the M62 is calling.
GMI Construction of Leeds will deliver in a £40 million deal, with piling already entering the East Yorkshire ground on the long-anticipated state-of-the-art centre, which will bring supply chain elements to the M62 location.
Mr Dowling, whose enthusiasm won hearts and minds beyond the immediate sector with his Humber arrival, has forged a love affair with the area.
And the project director believes the brightest possible future now lays ahead after some of the darkest times, as 700 roles are added after 800 were created down the road.
“We said we would be open in 2023 making trains and employing hundreds of people and we will be,” he assured. “People need jobs, good jobs, and these will be those.
“We need to give people a future, to encourage the next generation of engineers, those looking for roles in construction. There is a lot of optimism about and there is an onus on all of us to let people know there is a future and it is bright, and that we can get through it together.
“It was a great thing to be involved in when I look back at Hull, we had City of Culture as well, and there is potential here in Goole too. The Humber Freeport bid has just gone in, there’s a £25 million town deal and a new local enterprise partnership on the North Bank. People like Richard Beal are building hundreds of high quality homes, just across the way - it is a very, very exciting time, with a lot of stimulation from industry.
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“It is different to offshore wind, but the transport industry - the mobility industry - has a lot of exciting things coming. A big increase in battery use, electrification, and hydrogen, some things we are working on very actively, and this is where it all comes together. Offshore wind, hydrogen production, use - all on the Humber.
“We’re all pulling together to make sure there is a future for young people here, brighter than it has ever been. That’s how we do ‘levelling up’.
"Government is committed, but you have to help yourself as well. This is a statement, we are in the community, spending in the community, generating jobs in the community, producing, designing and innovating the finest rolling stock in the world in this country - that’s something special.
“I’m lucky to get two of these gigs in a career. I love working on the Humber, it is a hugely exciting time, and what opportunity we have.”
Just days before coronavirus struck, Transport for London executives arrived for a site visit. Since then Prime Minister Boris Johnson has popped up to underline how the 海角视频 will build back better as groundworks began, and now the work proper commences.
“I have been on this project for just over two years, and was on Hull for three years, and when you’re in the role you see it over the longer period,” Mr Dowling said.
“The pandemic is like nothing we have been through before. For us, as a group, it is all about health and safety, keeping people safe. It is a Covid-protected environment, we make sure we protect ourselves, as do GMI, and we have stayed on track as we expected.
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“It is important in difficult times that people see life does carry on, that we build for the future. We cannot wait in abeyance, hit the pause button for a year, we get on with it.
“We are not being blown off course, we are firmly on course and delivering exactly what we said we would deliver.”
Just as Mr Dowling headed west from Hull, GMI heads east from Leeds.
“We didn’t go to GMI on the basis it was a Yorkshire business. From all the local, national and international tenders, they were the best bid. They share the same set of values we have about employing local, giving people a chance, launching apprenticeships and working with communities.
“They understand what ‘localisation’ means, and levelling up - creating jobs in these communities. That’s why we are here and one of the reasons they got the gig, and there will be more.”
A total of £50 million of contracts have already been issued. Aside from the £40 million for GMI, a further £10 million has already been committed, with recipients including Hessle’s CR Reynolds for enabling works, fellow Hessle business Clay 10 for site visuals and Brandesburton’s Premier Modular for temporary offices.
“We have had innovative support from start-up Clay 10 - fabulous work on how we digitally imagine the site - then a fantastic established business in Premier Modular at Brandesburton supplying the office I’m now sat in,” Mr Dowling said.”Now we have businesses winning work on the trains themselves, and that’s for the longer term.”
For train components, appointments have already been made with Normanton’s LPA Lighting for the interior train lighting, Telford-based Baker Bellfield to supply cab partition walls and Coventry’s IM Kelly for driver seats.
This past week has also seen another arrival - three carriages from a Heathrow Express train for training - the first model Siemens ever sold in the 海角视频.