Tuesday 12 Nov 2024
Morgan Sindall Infrastructure awarded roof renewal contract of UK’s busiest station
- Region & Route:
- Eastern: Anglia
Network Rail has awarded a £22 million contract to Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, to bring more light into London Liverpool Street by renewing the roof panels as well as improving the drainage system of station’s Victorian trainshed.
A large area of the roof is covered in lichen growth which allows very little light to enter the station. These lichen covered panels over platforms 1-10, will be replaced to continue to provide essential protection from the elements and make it a lighter, brighter environment for passengers.
And with more frequent and intense rain-storms likely in the coming years as a result of climate change, the roof needs to be resilient to these challenges and allow rainwater to drain away, without overwhelming the drainage system and entering the station environment.
The contract will deliver a package of work that will improve the overall experience for all users and passengers, by allowing more natural light into the station and make the roof resilient to 1-in-10 year storms. The contract includes:
- replacement of the life-expired GRP (glass reinforced plastic) panels at the northern end of the trainshed
- replacement or repair of over 600 Georgian panels and fittings over the southern end of the trainshed and concourse roof
- repair of the aluminium roof sheeting across the whole roof
- improvement to the roof’s catchment and drainage system to accommodate more intense rain events
- repair and restoration of the valance panels on the end of the trainshed roof
From Christmas 2024, these improvements will start to be delivered using an innovative sliding works platform, suspended under the roof spans, and operated from Bishopgate’s Exchange Square.
This approach will minimise disruption inside the station and allow the roof renewal work to take place overhead while allowing the station operations to continue as normal without interruption.
Emily Heria, Network Rail Anglia sponsor for the roof renewal programme said: “London Liverpool Street is the jewel in the crown for the Anglia rail network and our passengers deserve to have a bright, dry and welcoming station.
“Awarding this contract to Morgan Sindall Infrastructure marks an major step forward to giving this important station the care and attention it deserves and to shore up the roof against increasing and more frequent storm events.”
Olivia Perkins, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure Managing Director for Rail, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this scheme, to refresh and improve the resilience of the roof at Liverpool Street station.
“In planning the works we have aimed to put passengers first, working closely with Network Rail and key stakeholders, and learning from previous schemes, to develop a methodology that will minimise the impact to station users. We are pleased to be getting underway.”
The roof renewal work is currently expected to be completed by end of 2026.
Notes to Editors
- The London Liverpool Street improvement programme is delivering a range of improvements that will improve the station experience for passengers.
- London Liverpool Street station is the UK busiest station with over 80.4 million journeys completed between April 2022 and March 2023.
- Morgan Sindall is a group of specialist businesses, delivering housing and mixed-use partnership schemes, fit out and construction services across the UK for the public, commercial and regulated sectors.
- Over Christmas 2024, the station will be closed to all services from 25 December to 1 January 2025 to begin work to renew the shed roof panels, add more ticket gates for platforms 1-10 and work within Bishopsgate tunnel. Our Christmas press release can be viewed here.
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain’s railway infrastructure; that’s 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK’s largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country’s train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain’s railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation’s railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced – a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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