Taking place in Crewe, our conference this year focused on ‘Delivering HS2 in Full: Spreading Prosperity and Driving Growth’, and featured a full day of keynote speeches, panel discussions and networking.
Chaired by Sameena Ali-Khan, and with keynote speeches from Mark Thurston, CEO, HS2 Ltd and Henri Murison, Northern Powerhouse Partnership – the conference considered what HS2 could mean for Crewe, with Councillor Craig Browne, Deputy Leader and Chair of the Highways and Transport Committee, Cheshire East Council, Mark Haase, CEO, SG World, Crewe, Shamit Gaiger, MD, West Coast Partnership Development, Suzanne Mathieson, Project Director, Mott Macdonald and Alan Over, Director General at the Department for Transport.
The event highlighted the importance of HS2 as a project of national and regional transformation, and one that is essential to achieving the Government’s goals of levelling up all regions of England and achieving net zero.
The conference provided an opportunity to reflect on progress that has been made over the last year, recent delays and consider how to best make the case for high speed rail as we look to the future. In the afternoon, panelists Helen Davis, Director of Strategy & Business Development, Rail Infrastructure, Siemens, Scott Prentice, Head of Business Development, ScotRail and Jonathan Sharrock, Senior Account Director HS2, Arcadis looked beyond HS2 to consider the benefits of amplifying connections to the network.
