The first phase of West Midlands Metro’s Birmingham Westside extension between Grand Central and Library has won an award for environmental awareness in construction. The team from the Midland Metro Alliance – who are building the extensions to the network on behalf of Transport for West Midlands – were presented with the award at the Highways UK expo in Birmingham at the start of November 2022 (almost three years after the line opened!).
The Midland Metro Alliance team collected the CEEQUAL “very good” status which was given for the considerable best practices around sustainability during construction of the line, which opened in December 2019. One of the key sustainability features recognsied was the use of batteries to power the trams along the route – the first time this technology had been used for light rail in the UK.
Peter Cushing, Midland Metro Alliance Director, said: “The Metro extension is a key part of Birmingham’s response to the challenge of climate change and this new route provides a sustainable option for travel across the city. It is a huge achievement for the MMA that we have built the UK’s first tramway to run on battery power along a purpose built without overhead wires, preventing the need to attach cables to historic listed buildings such as Birmingham Town Hall and also reducing the line’s carbon footprint.”
John Ellison, Head of Safety and Sustainability, added: “Sustainability is one of the core values which underpin the alliance’s approach to construction and design. We aim to reflect this in all our practices right from the initial design to completing finishing works on the track. The first phase of the Birmingham Westside Metro extension was an exemplar in sustainable construction and the alliance continues to use the learnings from this project.”