STATION MODERNISATION
crash deck to protect the trains underneath.
“From the north access deck, we also have substantial access ways running down the valley gutters - both in between and to the side of both barrels - and we run the materials up and down there on two small temporary railway tracks which we have built on the roof.”
All of the enabling works have now been completed and the team has now spent a number of months stripping out the southern end of the roof.
“This has involved grit blasting it back to the steel work and we are now at the stage where we have begun to fix some of the new steel to the first four bays on the roof which will take the new glazing.
“The first part of this project is inevitably going to go slower because there is a learning curve which we have to go through, but also from a practical point of view it is the furthest distance to carry the materials because of the its position. This means that we expect that, as the work proceeds, each bay will become faster and faster to fit out and we hope to have the first four bays complete before Christmas.
“We hope then to move onto the second four bays and, at some point next year, we will be able to reveal the work which has taken place as we move the deck down to the work on another section. We’re looking forward to that day because it will be the first time that the passengers will be able to see some completed evidence of the works which have taken place on the roof. We hope to have this completed sometime around the end of 2011.”
The third package of work is also in the main train shed and has centred around the
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refurbishment of the platforms, one by one.
“This includes installing new platform edges and tactile strips along with resurfacing the platform but more critically it has included putting in new lift and escalator pits along with the steel work for the new passenger bridge. Following just over another six weeks of work, we will reopen that platform and begin the process on the next island platform, with these works continuing for about a year. We will then begin work on the platforms either sides (One and Eight) and hope to have all of the work done to the platforms completed by 2011.
The next package of work is a part which most of the public will never see but has been a major civil engineering project in its own right. This work will facilitate all of the back-of-house operations at the station and will allow for seamless operation, out of the public eye.
“In the future all of the retail in the station, offices and on-board
catering services will be fed by a series of back-of-house passage ways and tunnels, which will all feed into an area called the shared service yard. This is a large underground service bay which will be capable of taking five lorries at any one time as well as having space for rubbish compacters and other ancillary equipment.
“From this yard there will eventually be a service road which will find its way back up to surface level and out onto Goods Way, just next to the Goods Way tunnels.”
Other packages include a major switch over of utilities which was completed early on in the project.
“This involved putting all of into one big duct and moving it about five metres sideways to enable us to build the new concourse. In cost terms it was very small but in importance terms, it was crucial to the project.”
This leaves only packages six and seven. The former includes all
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of the enhancement work taking place on the western side of the station.
“This includes the new western concourse which is considered to be the jewel in the crown and will become an iconic building. It is a fabulous piece of architecture and the best piece of rail architecture which the country has seen for some time.”
Other works in package six include works to the western range building which, once complete, will reveal a beautiful piece of Victorian architecture which has been obscured from public view since the 1960s.
“Package seven is the last piece of work which we shall do which will happen after the Olympics and is the creation of a new public square outside of the southern end of the station.”
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