17th March 2014, 09:52 AM
I presume Dr Heyworth hasn't noticed that there are numerous archaeological units capable of snapping up the work, and that each are very used to working on tight timescales and budgets. Furthermore, despite a bit of a recovery, there are still many archaeologists (or aspirational archaeologists) out of work, so no shortage in being able to recruit, which sound alot like....oh yes....most of the construction industry.
This is a massive project as a whole, but aside from the watching brief angle, surely will be broken into many smaller sites. There was an advert a while ago looking for a DBA specialist to be employed directly by HS2. I wonder if there is any preliminary information arising from them on the scope of work, and whether more archaeologists will be employed directly by HS2, at project manager or wider level, or whether all the excavation work will be locked into a 'framework' agreement between one or two large operators?
I think its a bit premature to be highlighting the archaeological industry as a barrier, when in contrast to many other HS2 issues, its one the industry will happily solve for them (did someone mention work?)
This is a massive project as a whole, but aside from the watching brief angle, surely will be broken into many smaller sites. There was an advert a while ago looking for a DBA specialist to be employed directly by HS2. I wonder if there is any preliminary information arising from them on the scope of work, and whether more archaeologists will be employed directly by HS2, at project manager or wider level, or whether all the excavation work will be locked into a 'framework' agreement between one or two large operators?
I think its a bit premature to be highlighting the archaeological industry as a barrier, when in contrast to many other HS2 issues, its one the industry will happily solve for them (did someone mention work?)