Ten formerly unemployed London residents have secured full-time jobs helping to build HS2, Britain's new zero carbon railway.

Their achievements were marked at a celebratory event in the Lord Mayor's Parlour, Westminster City Hall, after all ten candidates graduated from a paid work trial with HS2's London-based construction partner, Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS JV) and its contractor Danny Sullivan Group.

In October, unemployed residents from Brent, Camden, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hillingdon, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster boroughs, which all border HS2’s line of route, were given the opportunity to apply for a bespoke training and paid work trial programme. The opportunity, which allows candidates to earn and learn, while getting a feel for what a career in construction can offer, forms part of HS2's commitment to ensure local people, and those most in need, benefit from employment opportunities on the two-decade long construction project.

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Ambrose Quashie, HS2’s Skills Manager for Greater London said: "We're working closely with our employment partners in seven London boroughs to help people who are out of work to develop new skills and progress into skilled jobs with long-term career prospects.

"The paid work trial scheme was a huge success, and we’re delighted for those that completed the four-week programme and have gone on to secure full-time employment."

All ten candidates begin their new roles helping to build HS2 this month. Four will join the tunnelling operative apprenticeship programme, supporting the 26-mile-long London tunnelling works delivered by SCS JV. The remaining candidates will form part of HS2's 'orange army' working at sites in Ealing and Camden.