Business profile
URS is lead designer for Dragados on the stunning Bank station capacity upgrade. Ian Hay, director of rail at URS, answered some questions for Rail Professional
What in your view is significant about the Bank station design?
T
he Dragados-led team’s option of introducing two 94-metre-long travelators to speed up passenger journeys through the station was a key factor in our winning the £563 million upgrade in July. In general, throughout the design process, there has been a lot of innovation focused on increasing capacity and improving passenger flows through the station as part of creating a better customer experience. The solution proposed by the Dragados-led team – comprising experts from URS as well as Dragados – cut an average 11 minute journey through the station by 90 seconds. We are pretty pleased about that.
What does the project involve for you as designers?
Our improvements to Bank station will include a new Northern line southbound running tunnel to create more platform space, interchange tunnels and another station entrance. We have an integrated design team, including Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Dr Sauer & Partners, and together we will deliver a range of multidisciplinary services including civil, structural, geotechnical, mechanical and electrical engineering, along with more pedestrian flow modelling.
Do you often work with contractors like Dragados?
Half of our rail business in the UK is directly with contractors, usually under design and build arrangements. It is great for our staff because it means they are involved in projects that are physically being built, which – apart from being extremely satisfying – significantly aids their career development.
What does working with contractors bring to URS?
One obvious advantage is the strong pipeline of work spanning a range of interesting projects. But an additional benefit is that we have really developed our abilities in terms of designing for constructability and safety. This is a very useful skill to have as a business and as an individual. Also, our employees are comfortable operating in a fast-moving
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environment and reacting quickly to change requests from clients.
Are new business opportunities emerging for the URS rail team because of this experience? Yes indeed. We believe our
constructability skills set us apart from our competitors and we want to use those abilities on more upstream feasibility and development work to help define projects better at the earliest stage. We think our understanding of how to design things so they can be built more efficiently and safely, coupled with our broader consultancy and innovation expertise, creates a powerful proposition.
What projects are you involved in at the moment? We are working with BAM Nuttall on Borders Rail for Transport Scotland and Network Rail, which is the longest new domestic railway constructed in Britain for more than 100 years. We are also one of the largest design consultants on Crossrail in London.
On HS2, we hold four contracts with two other designers, Mott MacDonald to provide engineering services and Arup to provide environmental services. We are a major provider for Network Rail’s switches and crossings renewals programme. Overseas, URS has a large portfolio in rail. For instance, we are playing a major role in modernising Croatia’s entire rail network.
Do you need to recruit more staff to do all this work? Yes, absolutely. We need to recruit 40 permanent staff in rail by January to bring our rail team to 300 because there is so much opportunity. We have openings for all disciplines and all skill levels. The fact that we are winning a steady stream of major rail projects is proving a big draw for candidates, as is the chance to take on a meaningful role on a job from day one.
What is URS like as an employer? It is exciting being part of such a major global business – the whole company employs more than 50,000 people and has a turnover of $11 billion. And as an organisation it has the desire, ambition
We think our understanding of how to design things so they can be built more efficiently and safely, coupled with our broader consultancy and innovation expertise, creates a powerful proposition
and ability to be a serious player in the rail market. The opportunities ahead are almost limitless.
•
For more details about career opportunities at URS, please visit
www.ursglobal.com/careers or email
UKRecruitment@urs.com
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