Dragados SA has appointed URS as lead design consultant for the £563m Bank station capacity upgrade project. URS’ contract for this major project officially started on 1 August 2013 and design work has already begun.
URS supported Dragados SA throughout the 15-month tender process. Dragados was appointed to the scheme by London Underground Limited (LUL) in July 2013. URS’ integrated design team including Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Dr Sauer & Partners will deliver a wide range of multidisciplinary services, including design management and assurance; civil, structural, geotechnical, mechanical and electrical engineering; tunnelling; architecture; pedestrian flow modelling; and planning and environmental services. Staff from URS and Dragados will share an office with London Underground for the duration of the project.
The designs will include a new Northern line southbound-running tunnel to create more platform space, interchange tunnels and another station entrance. The new tunnels will pass under iconic city landmarks including the Mansion House and other important listed buildings within a conservation area. The station will remain operational throughout the construction although there will be a temporary blockade of the Northern line while the new section of southbound tunnel is connected.
The upgrade scheme adds to URS’ extensive experience of delivering major European infrastructure projects. Recent high-profile contracts include Crossrail, Thames Tideway Tunnel, HS2 and the Stockholm Bypass. URS is also part of the Merseylink consortium named by Halton Borough Council as preferred bidder for the Mersey Gateway project.
John Horgan, Group Managing Director, Europe, Middle East and India at URS, said: “This is one of the largest ever underground station redevelopments in London, transforming a complex underground interchange to meet 21st century needs. URS teams from across our European business will work on its delivery. We currently have a substantial recruitment drive across Europe and beyond for engineers at all levels to join the project teams supporting our major infrastructure contracts.”
Set in the heart of London’s financial district, Bank station is one of the largest and most complex underground railway stations in the world. Nearly 100,000 passengers use this major interchange hub and station every morning rush hour and this figure is rising fast. The upgrade project will deliver a much-needed capacity increase by 2021.
Source URS press office
It is a sad reflection that the lack of ongoing investment in our transport infrastructure during the past 30 years has resulted in Britain having to rely upon foreign companies to carry out a good proportion of civil engineering work. We now hear that Dragados, a Spanish company, responsible for the Bank project has appointed an Australian-based company as lead design consultants. Are there not enough British civil engineering firms around these days or is it just that they are not good enough to compete in the “global market”
The URS rail team based in Swindon (who will be working on this) are actually the old Scott Wilson team who were bought out by URS a couple of years ago and were British, so apart from the corporate bit, the design team is actually British in origin. Shame about the Spanish contractor though.
Fair comment. However, it is still a shame that so many British-owned companies, with good engineering and design expertise, have been acquired by foreign-based interests over the years. I accept that there are still quite a few left within the railway industry but we seem to hear that more and more non-British companies are winning major contracts within the UK.
American not Australian, but same horse different jockey I suppose.