Career opportunities come in all shapes and sizes and even in ages. 59-year-old West Ealing resident Michael Hagan recently joined HS2 and says he can see himself working on the high speed railway until he’s ready to retire.
Michael, who will will be celebrating his 60th birthday later this year, found out about the paid work trial with HS2’s London-based construction partner, Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS JV) and its contractor Danny Sullivan Group from his job coach at Ealing Job Centre.
Michael began his career in the Army, where he served for seven years. He then spent over 25 years working as a concrete batcher at various different plants across London. Two and a half years ago, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which meant he could no longer work. After successful rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Michael was thankfully given the all clear 12 months ago and was keen to get back to work.
His job coach at Ealing Job Centre suggested that the paid work trial would be a good way for him to get a feel for what a career working on HS2 might offer. Since signing up to the programme in October 2022, Michael hasn’t looked back.
Michael is based at HS2’s Atlas Road site in Park Royal, a key logistics hub where the team are supporting construction of the Euston tunnels. A giant tunnel boring machine will launch from the site later this year, creating a tunnel which will transport the segments to build the Euston tunnel network and remove spoil, helping to reduce the number of lorries on the local road network.
Michael said: “Getting this job has really helped with my recovery, sitting at home wasn’t doing me any good. I genuinely feel so much better now. There’s great camaraderie here among the team, and I can see myself working here until I’m ready to retire. If that’s in six years’ time, our work here will be pretty much done and I’ll have played a part in building HS2.”
He added: “I’m so glad I went for the trial, as it led to me securing a permanent job which I really enjoy. I’ve told everyone I know that’s unemployed that they should get onboard too. I even went back to see my old job coach at the Job Centre to say how great things have turned out, and to encourage them to put more people forward.”
