Content guidelines - Editorial style
Get your style on point. Here’s our ‘A to Z’ guide to HS2 house style.
A
abbreviations
See the guidance on abbreviations and acronyms on the Formatting and punctuation page.
about
About is preferred to around for estimating numbers and distances, e.g.
HS2 will support about 30,000 jobs during peak construction.
accessibility
Follow our accessibility guidance.
acronyms
See the guidance on abbreviations and acronyms on the Formatting and punctuation page.
Act
Act is always capitalised when it refers to legislation, e.g.
The High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017 gave us permission to build HS2. The Act covers the Phase One route only.
Note that Act is capitalised when it’s used a second time even though it’s not a proper noun – an exception that proves the rule.
adviser
adviser not advisor.
all right
all right not alright.
amongst
amongst use among.
ampersand (&)
aren’t used unless they are part of a proper noun, like Marks & Spencer.
around
around see about.
automated people mover
is not capitalised.
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block capitals
should not be used, as using all upper case can be difficult for some people to read. See also italics.
brackets
should be avoided in favour of dashes – just like we’ve done here. See hyphens and dashes.
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capitalisation
This is used sparingly because our tone of voice is less formal. Capitalisation should be used for companies, institutions and countries and rarely for job titles. If you’re in doubt, use lower case.
Don’t randomly capitalise popular HS2 terms like community engagement, enabling works, main works civils or integrated project team. Our directorates take capitals, e.g. Construction Directorate, Land and Property, Phase Two Directorate. See titles.
capacity, connectivity and carbon
The 3Cs – drive the business case for HS2 and explain why we’re building the railway. We’ll increase the first two and drastically cut the last one.
In brief, this is what they mean:
Capacity
This is about creating more space, for seats and for freight, on all our railways. The extra capacity created by HS2’s dedicated, intercity network will reduce congestion on existing railways and roads by freeing up space on local routes.
Connectivity
This is about improving rail connections between our towns and cities and opening up new regional links. People will get from Point A to Point B quicker and more frequently on HS2 trains – like moving from a regular broadband speed to a superfast connection.
Carbon
This is about our role in combatting climate change by promoting more environmentally-friendly ways of travel, namely high-speed rail. We will minimise carbon emissions as we build the railway and HS2 journeys will be low-carbon, too. And by increasing rail capacity, we’ll cut carbon emissions from cars and lorries.
centred around
This is wrong – it’s ‘centred on’.
chainage
This is a measurement used for surveying including for railways. It marks the distance of a location from a set point, typically the point the scheme ‘begins’. For HS2 Phase One, chainage is referenced from Euston station, which is 0+000. The values are in metres. So, 50+000 refers to the point that is 50,000m, or 50km, from Euston station.
commence
Use ‘start’ or ‘begin’.
companies
They are always singular, regardless of how many names are in the title. It means HS2 Ltd is building a high-speed railway – not HS2 Ltd are building a high-speed railway.
Similarly, our joint ventures and integrated project teams (IPTs) are singular.
For a document with an informal tone, use ‘we’ instead of HS2 Ltd: “We’re building a railway. We’re carrying out the work in phases.”
construction
use ‘build’, e.g. We are building a railway.
contractions
They are short forms of words we use every day, e.g. We’re ready to build the bridge when they’ve approved it.
Contractions are acceptable in plain English documents and presentations – particularly those for the public, like guidance documents or for educational visits and drop-in session. They are less suitable for formal documents, like a report for the Department for Transport.
commented
use ‘said’.
customers
This covers both people who will use our stations – for cafés, restaurants and shops – and people who will travel on our trains. If your document refers specifically to our train customers, you can also use ‘passengers’.
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dates
They should be written like this: 17 July 2017. Don’t use 1st, 4th etc. or abbreviate months to Feb, Dec etc.
Financial years are written 2020/21.
For other years in a range, use a dash (2020 – 2021) or ‘to’ (2020 to 2021).
dashes
see hyphens.
determine
use ‘decide’ or ‘work out’.
disabled people
use ‘people with disabilities’ and never ‘the disabled’.
dos
and don’ts.
double spaces
should not be used. New sentences have a single space following a full stop.
dwelling
use home.
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every day
This means something happens each day and everyday means it’s an ordinary occurrence, e.g. I have breakfast every day. It’s an everyday mistake when people skip it. .
explained
use said.
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facilitate
use ‘help’ or ‘make possible’. Avoid facility for a building– it’s vague.
fit for purpose
is a cliché. If something isn’t working, say it isn’t working.
flagship, ground-breaking, landmark and milestone
should be used sparingly and only for major events.
forward planning
is planning – just say planning.
fractions
take hyphens, e.g. We’re two-thirds of the way there.
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Government
is capitalised when you’re referring to the Government. It isn’t if you are referring to the business of government.
going forward
is jargon – it’s robotic and dull.
Use ‘next’, ‘then,’ ‘in future’ or nothing at all. Like other jargon and clichés, it’s pompous and conflicts with the principles of plain English.
Also watch out for bandwidth, optic, baked in, pivot, game-changing, granularity etc.
green corridor
is used to describe the major work we’re undertaking to make sure HS2 blends into the natural landscape. It includes creating new habitats for wildlife, planting millions of new trees and shrubs, building ‘green tunnels’ for our trains and protecting meadows, plants and wetlands and rare species.
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HGV use lorry.
high-speed is used with a hyphen to describe our railway because it’s a descriptive or adjectival phrase. So, HS2 is Britain’s high-speed railway. However, HS2 trains travel at high speed (no hyphen).
Similarly, you would say: “I am working on a long-term project to improve rail journeys in the long term.”
highways use roads.
HS2 and HS2 Ltd are different things.
HS2 is High Speed Two – the popularly used, abbreviated name of Britain’s high-speed rail network. HS2 is the railway.
HS2 Ltd is the publicly-funded company created by the Government to design and build HS2. HS2 Ltd is ‘us’. The first time you cite the company, use: High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd. After that instance, use HS2 Ltd.
humankind not mankind – about half the world’s population is female.
hybrid Bill not Hybrid Bill or hybrid bill, e.g. Phase 2a hybrid Bill.
hyphens and dashes shouldn’t be confused. Hyphens look like this - . They are shorter than dashes and are used for hyphenating words like home-owner.
Dashes, also known as en dashes, look like this – . They are longer than hyphens and are used for breaking up sentences instead of using commas and brackets.
Instead of using en dashes with items that are in a range, we prefer to use the word ‘to’, e.g. We’ll run workshops about it from Tuesday to Friday.
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impacted is jargon – use ‘affected’. Teeth are impacted, our communities are not – they are affected by HS2.
Saying a new building will have a ‘negative impact’ isn’t transparent. Tell people what the effect of the new development will be.
inform use tell.
integrated project teams (IPTs) are building the Phase One railway between London and the West Midlands and are made up of our own teams, our main works civils joint ventures and design joint ventures.
italics shouldn’t be used. It’s an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) requirement because italicised text, like this, is difficult to read for people with dyslexia.
it’s is a contraction of – or is short for – it is or it has. its shows belonging, e.g. The badger quickly made its home in the newly-constructed sett.
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joint ventures are the groups of companies who are building HS2.
job titles – see titles. judgment not judgement.
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ladies use women. For adjectival use, say ‘female’, e.g. ‘female construction workers’.
licence is a noun, e.g. We have a licence to build the railway.
license is a verb, e.g. We are licensing use of the software. Back to top
M
measurements like heights, lengths and weights are usually metric with imperial units in brackets, e.g.
The viaduct is 11m (36ft) high.
The exception is distances and speeds because miles, not kilometres, dominate popular usage in the UK. Mileages are used on road signs. Use miles with kilometres in brackets, e.g.
The Phase One route between the West Midlands and London is about 140 miles (225km).
Or
The top operating speed of HS2 will be 225mph (about 360kph).
To convey size, use comparisons like ‘the equivalent of 100 football pitches’ but don’t overuse these comparisons or your copy can sound childlike.
When stating area or volume in public documents, write it in full, e.g. 10 square metres – subsequently 10 sq metres; and 10 cubic metres (don’t shorten).
In technical reports, 10m2 and 10m3 are fine. million and billion are always written in full the first
time and subsequently abbreviated to m or bn, e.g. There will be two viaducts. One viaduct will cost £12
million and the other will cost £10m.
motorways don’t say M42 motorway – the ‘M’ in M42 stands for motorway and is an accepted abbreviation. If you say ‘M42 motorway’, you’re saying ‘motorway’ twice.
moving forward see going forward
myself like himself, ourselves etc. is a reflexive
pronoun – it refers back to a person, e.g. I wrote the technical report myself.
Myself and ourselves, in particular, are often confused with me and us.
Do say: “Send it to me/us.”
Don’t say: “Send it to myself/ourselves.”
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net zero is hyphenated when it’s used as a compound adjective, e.g.
Interchange will be a net-zero carbon station.
Or
We’ll help Britain become a net-zero carbon economy. But you’d say:
Carbon emissions will be net zero at Interchange.
new should be used with caution. We are building a railway – and creating and supporting jobs. We don’t need to say ‘new’ – they’re be no point in building an old railway – or creating and supporting old jobs. The same goes for homes, shops etc.
no one not no-one.
Notice to Proceed is the formal approval, issued by the Government, to begin the main construction works for HS2.
North etc... use upper case for North, South, East and West when referring to the region, e.g.
HS2 will dramatically reduce journey times between the North and the South.
Use lower case north, south etc when referring to a direction, e.g.
HS2 trains from Euston will travel west to Old Oak Common then head north to Birmingham.
numbers from one to nine are written as words. Then use digits from 10.
If two numbers are close together in text, and one is under 10 and one is over 10, write both in digits, e.g.8outof10–noteightoutof10.
numerous is vague – say how many.
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objective use ‘goal’ – it’s can-do and visionary.
outsource avoid in public documents – it’s jargon.
over don’t use if you mean ‘more than’, e.g. The bridge will cost more than £10 million. Don’t say: The bridge will cost over £10 million.
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passengers see customers. per annum say ‘a year’.
percentages use the % symbol unless you’re saying: “We’re expecting a large percentage of applications from the North.”
Express a figure between two percentages like this:
We’re expecting 80% to 90% of the work to be completed.
phases HS2 is being built in several phases.
The phases are being built between, not to, cities,
to signify the equal importance of destinations and regions. Phase One is being built between Birmingham and London.
The phases should be written like this:
Phase One – not Phase 1, or any other abbreviation.
Phase Two – not Phase 2.
Phase 2a – not Phase Two A.
Phase 2b – not Phase Two B.
Our phases aren’t proper nouns but we capitalise them to reflect their importance to HS2. They are an exception. See project.
places should be located by their county, or where they are near. We are a national project with an international audience.
People in Long Itchington may not know where Tibshelf is – and vice versa. We should say Tibshelf, Derbyshire and Long Itchington, Warwickshire. People in Wendover know where it is. But do people in Manchester?
practice is a noun, e.g. We are holding a drop-in event at the local health visitor practice.
practise is a verb, e.g. We practise being a good neighbour.
principal denotes the ‘main’ or most important, e.g.
She was the principal reason we won the bid.
principle is a code, or a standard, of conduct, e.g.
HS2 champions the principles of carbon, capacity and connectivity.
Project is capitalised when referring to HS2. e.g. The HS2 Project is on time and on budget.
Or
The Project is on time and on budget.
Programme is never capitalised. e.g.
The HS2 programme is on time and on budget. Or
The programme is on time and on budget.
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questions about style points are encouraged. If you aren’t sure, contact our editorial team at: identity@hs2.org.uk
quotation marks use double quotes at the start and end of a quote, e.g.
Stevie said: “The HS2 stations will be among the best in the world.”
Use a colon, not a comma, to start a quote.
Single quotes can be used for phrases, like HS2’s ‘green corridor’. Back to top
R
recently adds nothing – provide the date, e.g. last week, two months ago.
relocate use move. retail units are shops.
roadmap is a cliché – use plan, unless you are referring to a map of roads.
rolling stock use ‘trains’ for non-technical, public documents. Back to top
S
seasons aren’t capitalised, e.g. Our works are due to finish before the winter.
singular and plural see companies.
slashes should be avoided in sentences as they can
be difficult to read. Use ‘and’ or ‘or’ instead. Say: The route has deep cuttings and tunnels. Don’t say: The route has deep cuttings/tunnels.
stations take capitals for the name only, not for ‘station’, e.g. Curzon Street station, Interchange station, Old Oak Common station, Euston station.
signage use sign.
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temperatures are in centigrade, e.g. 28C. Don’t use the ° symbol and put the Fahrenheit equivalent in brackets. e.g. 28C (82F).
time use this style:
8am, not 08:00;
8.30am, not 8:30am;
8am to 4pm, not 08:00 to 16:00.
Use 12 noon and 12 midnight if it helps for clarity, e.g. The bat survey will begin at 6pm and end at 12 midnight.
titles like Mr, Mrs, Dr, Prof and MP do not need full points.
job titles aren’t capitalised with the exception of Prime Minister; minsters of state, e.g. the Secretary of State for Transport, HS2 Minister; members of the Royal family, e.g. the Queen, the Duke of Cambridge; HS2 Residents’ Commissioner and Construction Commissioner; and HS2 Ltd Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and HS2 Ltd Chair. HS2 Ltd Chairman or Chairwoman are also acceptable – but be consistent in the same document. If you start with Chair, stay with Chair.
tonne not ton. Our tunnel boring machines weigh about 2,000 tonnes.
A metric tonne is 1,000kg and a British ton is 2,240lb.
transition use ‘move’, e.g. HS2 will help Britain move to a low-carbon economy.
translocating use ‘moving’.
tunnel boring machine isn’t capitalised.
Say: “We have 10 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) for the Phase One works. Our first TBMs were named Cecilia and Florence.”
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urban conurbations use cities and towns.
underlining is not used – see italics.
utilise use ‘use’.
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wayfinding is technical jargon. For public documents, tell people what we will do to help them find their way around our stations and other buildings. Don’t just say there’ll be ‘branded wayfinding’.
websites are written as hyperlinks. https:// is not needed.
Use ‘at:’ or ‘here:’ to introduce web addresses, not ‘by visiting:’
Don’t put web addresses in brackets or put full stops after them.
If URLs and email addresses are calls to action, they should be bold.
Our own website addresses (URLs) at HS2 Ltd should be in bold HS2 blue type, with no underlining.
weight is in kilograms with imperial conversions, e.g. 100kg (15st 10lb).
while not whilst.
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