Bank Station Capacity Upgrade
Project Overview
London Underground (LU) and Dragados delivered a major capital project (the Bank Station Capacity Upgrade (BSCU)) to expand Bank underground station. This £642m scheme had been introduced to reduce journey times and congestion on the Northern Line, Central Line, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) as well as interchange areas within the Bank-Monument station complex. Cleshar’s role within the project included providing specialist multidisciplinary support, in addition to delivering several key project packages.
Scope of Works
- Early contractor Involvement and multidisciplinary technical design team support
- Civils and premises construction survey team support
- Installed fire-rated station and track hoardings
- Carried out coring packages to allow ventilation ducts, HV cabling and high-pressure pipe work to pass through the station
- Carried out pipe subway/enabling works for Dragados’ tunnel teams
- Constructed a new locker room and welfare areas for 80 employees
- Demolished existing welfare areas and constructed HV and LV rooms
- Introduced concrete encapsulation of structural columns
- Removed lead paint to structural steels and walls
- Removed structural slabs and carried out re strengthening works
- Created new steel structures (including shaft staircases and complex structural supports to form new operational rooms directly above escalator within a void area)
Innovations
Early Contractor Involvement
At precontract stage, Transport for London (TfL) supported bidders and their supply chain with tender/technical support to achieve the objective of delivering early value and de-risking the construction stage. This was planned via ICE implementation and incentivised supply chain innovations. Innovative technical solutions that were offered by Cleshar, project suppliers, and Dragados led to the BSCU team being awarded the contract. In 2014, the BSCU team received a Construction Excellence Award for Integration and Collaborative Working.
As part of the ECI stage, we were involved in carrying out extensive, intrusive surveys of structures, foundations, and ground conditions. We also contributed to the design development of the station civils and premises packages and new Northern Line southbound slab track installations. Our ECI expertise enabled us to confirm the pricing of the works with risks identified and allocated to suitable owners. Our expertise also enabled other elements (such as buildability, noise, and vibration) to be thoroughly managed so reduce risk to the conservation area (which included many major, historic, and listed buildings) which was located directly above the works. Because of our input, logistics, possessions, and programme elements proceeded without delay.
Engineering interfaces
Undertaking 24/7 highly complex works within one of LU’s busiest stations presented several challenges but we overcame these by employing “outside of the box” engineering thinking and married that with meticulously planned delivery. One key challenge was to ensure no impact to either day-to-day station operations or the travelling public, whilst ensuring the protection of existing station assets. This was achieved through meticulous planning and close collaboration with LU’s station operations manager and Dragados’ interface manager. Other challenges we overcame were related to installing unique complex temporary works above live operational escalators, working within the confined space of the lift shafts, and delivering works in basement areas which featured live mains and gas lines.
Collaborative working
Personnel representing London Underground, Dragados, Cleshar, T Clarke and design teams all co-located the same office space to instil a one-team project mentality. Our operational, commercial, HSQE, and engineering teams all co-located with their counterparts from each organisation. This improved both communications and ensured rapid response to emerging issues and enabled us to manage planning and change control of the 24/7 working site teams.
Benefits / Project Outcome
We successfully delivered highly complex packages of works on the critical path which enabled the main tunnelling works phase to commence without delay. We are proud to have undertaken a key role in one of the largest capital LU projects in a generation.