Network Rail has awarded building contractor, civil engineering and property services firm Osborne the contract for the enabling works at London Bridge Station – part of the Thameslink Programme Key Output 2.
The £10million+ programme will involve removing and transferring key station services and assets, such as telecoms cabling, around the station by 2013 to ensure that the main works contract for the £800m redevelopment of London Bridge station starts on time, minimising risk to Network Rail’s Thameslink Programme.
Osborne has formed a team with Mace and T Clarke to work collaboratively with Network Rail on this project.
Design work will start immediately with first physical works starting in early 2012, subject to the success of a planning application currently before Southwark Council.
Dave Hooper, Managing Director of Osborne’s rail team, said:
“This is a fantastic project to be involved in. Delivering the enabling works with minimum disruption to the travelling public at one of London’s busiest stations is a challenge but one we are confident of fulfilling to help ensure the Thameslink Programme remains on track.”
The redevelopment of London Bridge Station is part of the wider, £6 billion Thameslink Programme.
Work will include:
- An increase in the number of tracks going through the station from six to nine and a reduction from nine to six in the number of terminating platforms. This will enable eighteen of the planned 24 Thameslink services per hour to call at London Bridge.
- Space for around two thirds more passengers to use the service each day
- Step-free access to all platforms from the main concourse, making the station easier to use – especially for people with reduced mobility, or those with luggage or small children
- A new concourse at street level, with entrances on Tooley Street and St Thomas Street. As well as improving access to the station, this will help continue the regeneration of the surrounding area by better connecting north and south.
Congratulations to all at Osborne on this London Bridge Station Win. It’s great to see the key enabling works staring on this strategic project. London Bridge Station is going to be one of the key projects of the next few years
London Bridge station rebuilding, along with several elements of the Thameslink project, is inevitably something of a compromise. The most unfortunate element is the destruction of the South Central LBSC train shed, a listed Grade II structure. I worked out a way of retaining it at the 2000 Inquiry. I hope the benefits will be worthwhile, but aspects of Thameslink 2000 – plus -are a compromise.
Many other capacity enhancement are still needed, Arun Valley upgrade, Uckfield – Lewes reinstatement, to mention just two complimentary schemes.
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