Footage released by HS2 has shown the work underway creating a 700-metre tunnel in Burton Green.

Contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV), has now completed the construction of the 200 metre porous portal of the major infrastructure project, while it awaits the designs for the full tunnel to be signed off.

The portal is the southern entrance to the 700 metre green tunnel, which will carry HS2 trains through Burton Green.

Once built, the tunnel will have green space created over the top, covered with trees and plants.

Over 160 roof segments have been installed as part of the 200-metre long concrete portal, with each segment weighing over 20 tonnes.

The portal features a series of vents in the roof which transition HS2 trains leaving and entering the tunnel. The pressured air wave produced by the 'piston effect' of the train moving through the tunnel will be channelled through the vents.

Rupert Blake, senior project manager at Balfour Beatty VINCI, said: "We're making great progress with the construction of the Burton Green tunnel, with the south portal now complete.

"The next phase of construction will be the section of the tunnel to the north, where a cutting is being excavated, diaphragm walls built, a concrete roof put on, before soil is backfilled over the top ready for planting.

"A key feature is the realignment of the Kenilworth Greenway, which will follow the route of the tunnel and have large-scale planting around it. It will also provide connectivity to existing footpaths which will run across the top of the tunnel, providing green spaces for the local community to enjoy."

The soil excavated will be used as part of the wider landscaping plans in the area.

Once construction and landscape work is complete, the greenway will be restored close to its original alignment, running across the top of the new tunnel, providing a link from Burton Green to Kenilworth and Berkswell for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.

Designs for the rest of the tunnel are yet to be signed off (image via HS2)

HS2 has already submitted its designs for the rest of the Burton Green tunnel to Warwick District Council.

A number of options had been considered for the design, including creating a bored tunnel, like the one being built in Long Itchington.

But the plans state that a bored tunnel would have been more expensive and would have led to "limited environmental improvement" in the long term.

The cut and cover tunnel will see the existing underpass widened and deepened.

A new village hall funded by HS2 has also recently been opened in Burton Green.