STRABAG UK opens flagship tunnel segment ring factory in Hartlepool

• Expansion and conversion of production site in Hartlepool, North East England, completed
• Highly automated fabrication of tunnel segments for HS2, the new high-speed railway initially linking London and the West Midlands
• Reducing material consumption and carbon footprint

Vienna, 25.7.2023 On Monday 24^th July 2023, Ruth Todd, Chief Commercial Officer for HS2, Jill Mortimer, MP for Hartlepool, Gerald Zangl, Head of STRABAG’s International & Tunnelling Division and Andy Dixon, MD Commercial STRABAG UK, cast the first tunnel segment ring at STRABAG UK’s new factory in Hartlepool, North East England. For STRABAG, this is the beginning of the manufacturing of precast concrete tunnel segments for HS2 tunnels in London and the rest of the UK.

STRABAG will be delivering over 83,000 precast concrete segments for HS2’s London tunnels, having won a contract to supply Skanska Costain STRABAG JV (SCS JV) in October 2021.

The site at Hartlepool docks, operated by PD Ports, was chosen because of its connections by rail and sea. The team have taken an old oil rig fabrication site and developed a modern precast concrete segment ring factory, creating over 100 jobs for local people.

The factory houses a state-of-the-art automated segment carousel and reinforcement hall. In addition, by reinstating the previously disused railhead and platform at the site, segments can now be transported by rail to HS2’s London logistics hub near Willesden Junction in London and straight to the tunnels’ portals.

Klemens Haselsteiner, CEO STRABAG SE, said:
“This is an extremely exciting day for STRABAG’s UK operations. This not only puts STRABAG firmly on the map in the North East of England, along with our facility in Wilton for the Woodsmith Mine project, but also across the whole of the UK.
Having direct access to the rail network means that we can take a significant number of lorries off of UK roads. This creates a more sustainable solution in the way that we transport tunnel segment rings to our London TBMs for HS2, resulting in a reduction of our carbon footprint.”

Ruth Todd CBE, HS2’s Chief Commercial Officer, said:
“HS2 is already bringing benefits to the UK economy, creating jobs around the country as part of the construction and manufacturing required for HS2. STRABAG’s choice of location in Hartlepool for its new facility demonstrates a commitment to bringing new job and training opportunities to the North East.”

Further information:

• 100,000 m³ of concrete will be used to construct the segments which will be 0.35m thick and will weigh 7 tonnes each.
• The contract for the lease at the site in Hartlepool has been signed for several years demonstrating STRABAG’s long-term commitment to manufacturing in the North East of England.
• The state-of-the-art automated segment carousel will also be controlled by telemetry to produce the high-quality reinforcement cages required for each segment.
• Together with optimised 3D reinforcement planning, newly developed templates and a new design for the reinforcement cages, the use of robotics ensures shorter turnaround times and better quality in production
• The automation and robotics used in the factory will reduce steel reinforcement wastage to negligible volumes and lead to a significantly better energy efficiency.
• By using rail instead of road to move over 83,000 segments, we avoid over 56,000 lorry journeys and reduce CO2 emissions by 76 %.