The contractor will deliver the massive Washwood Heath complex in joint venture with Aureos Rail on the 70-hectare former LDV van makerand Metro-Cammell industrial site.

The project award value is more than treble the original budget for the project at £275m. It covers construction of HS2’s rolling stock maintenance depot alongside the network integrated control centre that will oversee train dispatch, driver communications and day-to-day railway operations.

Around 500 construction jobs will be sustained during the build phase.

The depot itself will include a maintenance building, carriage wash, automatic vehicle inspection facility, overnight train stabling sidings and a dedicated test track.

The award represents one of the first major contracts signed off under the project reset being led by Mark Wild as ministers push to simplify delivery and drive down costs on the troubled rail scheme.

HS2 said the contract underwent extra scrutiny from Wild and an independent review panel following lessons learned from earlier civils packages, the Stewart Review and Crossrail.

Construction partner BBV — the joint venture between Balfour Beatty and VINCI — has already completed major remediation and enabling works on the heavily contaminated brownfield site.

The JV will now work with HS2 and the future operator to finalise designs before moving into full construction, testing and commissioning.