HS2 Ltd has handed the new Burton Green Village Hall to the local community after funding its £2 million rebuild. The state-of-the-art building was officially opened on Friday 2 March.
HS2 has worked with the Burton Green Village Hall since 2014 to design and build the new facility that will serve the local community for decades to come.
Key features of the new building include an expansive main hall complete with exposed wooden beams, a professional kitchen, outdoor BBQ area, reception, and dedicated office space.
The site has been equipped with a car park complete with electric vehicle charging ports and a bicycle rack. The trustees also plan to install a water butt to conserve rainwater, which they will use to maintain the site grounds. The building also features a series of stained-glass windows produced by local artist Vicki Aizlewood.
“Burton Green’s Village Hall has been almost a decade in the making and highlights the importance of HS2’s continued engagement with the local community,” said Alan Payne, senior project manager at HS2 Ltd.
“In another decade’s time, the Burton Green tunnel box will be hidden underground and covered in high quality wildlife habitat, and our investment will mean that the Village Hall will still be around to serve as a vital community hub for local people.”
The new facility commands panoramic views of the Burton Green Tunnel, which is currently under construction by HS2’s main works civils contractor in the West Midlands, Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV).
To build the green tunnel, a cutting has been created along the line of the existing Burton Green and Kenilworth Greenway. High speed trains will travel underneath Cromwell Lane through a 700-metre green tunnel, sensitively integrating the railway into the surrounding landscape and enhancing local biodiversity.
Construction of the tunnel is well underway, with over 148 roof segments already installed as part of the 200-metre long concrete porous portal, with each segment weighing over 22 tonnes.
HS2 has created a temporary Greenway that currently runs alongside the new hall. Once construction is complete, the Greenway will be restored close its original alignment, running across the top of the new tunnel, providing a link from Burton Green to Kenilworth and Berkswell for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.
Large-scale planting of native trees and shrubs will provide biodiverse habitats for wildlife, shield the Greenway visibly from the new railway, and re-establish vegetated connections to Black Waste Wood and Little Poors Wood.
Image credit HS2
