Rail project is Lance’s dream job

Wolverhampton born and bred, Lance Taylor has been given his dream job – transforming the road and rail services in his home city.

He works for global project management company Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), which has 2,000 people in 60 offices around the world, but says: “No-one else was going to get this job.” Lance is working with developers Neptune to make sure the £175 million rebuild of Wolverhampton’s railway and bus stations comes in on time and on budget.

“I’ve worked on projects around the world for the past 18 years, the last four with RLB, but there’s never been a job I’ve had a bigger personal stake in. My dad even claims I was conceived under the arches at the Low Level Station.

“I believe this transport interchange project will help turn Wolverhampton into a place people will want to come and want to stay.

“We have been working on this for the past 18 months with Neptune and all the stakeholders: Wolverhampton Council, the Wolverhampton Regeneration Company, British Waterways, Network Rail, Virgin Trains, Centro and the local property owners.

“A lot of people have practised regeneration before now, but Wolverhampton is getting it right.”

The 39-year-old Wolves fan, educated at Birchfield School and then Wolverhampton Grammar, is still a local lad despite this global career: He lives just outside the city, in Claverley; wife Ellie works at Penn Hall Special School and their two sons attend Old Swinford Hospital School.

His first job was as a sponsored student with Tarmac – later Carillion – and he was worked on project management of major building schemes ever since.

“This is the first major project in Wolverhampton I have handled,” said Lance.

The interchange will see both the bus and railway stations demolished and rebuilt to create a new transport centre, along with a range of apartments, a new 150-bed four star hotel, nearly half a million square feet of commercial space and 114,000 square feet of leisure and retail facilities.