HS2 has recently released time-lapse footage which catalogues the notable progress made on the Wendover Dean Viaduct over the last year.

This footage reveals how in just 20 hours last week, the HS2 high-speed rail project team managed to slide a 3130-tonne structure 270 meters across Buckinghamshire's Misbourne Valley.

The massive deck of the viaduct is being assembled in three stages.

Each section ranges from 90m to 180m long and is being pushed out from the north abutment before the subsequent section is attached to it.

This meticulous method means that the weight of the deck escalates with each push.

It has sprung from an initial 590 tonnes at the inception of the project in January to 3700 tonnes by the end of the year.

HS2 Ltd Senior Project Manager, Ben Sebastian-Green, spoke of the project:

"It’s great to see so much progress at Wendover Dean Viaduct over the last few days – with all the piers and the first three slides now done.

"The narrow site has always made it a challenging place to build, but I’m really impressed by how everyone’s pulled together to get us where we are today.

"Once complete, the viaduct will form a crucial part of the HS2 project - carrying fast trains between London and Birmingham and freeing up space on the existing mainline for more local and freight services."

The Wendover Dean Viaduct is carving a niche in history as it is the first major railway bridge in the UK to be built with a ‘double composite’ structure.

This design uses considerably less carbon-intensive concrete and steel than traditional models, helping HS2 achieve its goal of halving the embedded carbon in construction.

EKFB Agent, James Collings, also said: "It’s great to see the next phase of the installation of the steel work.

"The team have worked together to achieve the delivery and welding of the structure and installation of the precast concrete planks as well as completion of the nine piers.

"I am extremely proud of the team"

This 'double composite' model is being adopted in constructing five viaducts in total across the HS2 project.

These include Small Dean, Westbury, Lower Thorpe, and Turweston viaducts.

The hollow 'double composite' structure is made up of two steel beams sandwiched between two layers of reinforced concrete, creating a significantly more effective, super-strong span.

As part of the bigger picture for HS2, it is taking on the sizeable task of building over 500 bridging structures.

These range from smaller road bridges to enormous viaducts, such as that in progress at the Colne Valley, which is set to be the longest in the UK.