Passenger Improvement Works

Ready Construction working alongside Bam Nuttall were awarded the contract for the passenger improvement works at Victoria Station in central London that would see new ticket gate lines installed throughout the station along with new gantry systems highlighting what direction all new and existing gate lines could be used at busy times to reduce congestion and confusion. Also, as part of the improvement works various sections of shops throughout the station were demolished to create space for the new gate lines to be added or to open up areas of the concourse allowing passengers to move through the station more freely again reducing congestion in busy times of day.

The works Ready Construction were tasked with as part of this project were fabricating and installing the new metal gantries over the new and existing gate lines including concrete foundations and modifications to existing infrastructure to accommodate them, fabricating and installing new CER & ESR rooms throughout the station for the new and diverted power and comms management and maintenance, minor fabrication works installing vehicle gates, escape ladders and bump rails throughout the station, installing new terrazzo flooring throughout the station where shops had been removed, installing unistrut & cladding to all of the new and existing gantries and also some minor drainage works.

With Victoria Station being one of the busiest in the UK careful planning and preparation had to go into every task to ensure minimal disruption to the public in an already congested station while also maintaining the safety of everyone in the station at all times. Regular meetings, discussions, site walkouts and inspections were held or carried out along with members of staff from Bam Nuttall, Network Rail and the station staff to ensure this was always the case and that everyone was in agreement moving forward before everything was relayed to the operatives on site through briefings and safety paperwork.

Challenges were faced with certain aspects of the installations due to Victoria station having a weight limit across its main concourse with the underground and other parts of the station being directly below areas of it. This meant that specific care and planning had to be taken when arranging plant and agreeing methodology to minimise risk and ensure a safe system of working for installing the heavy gantry posts and beams.

Challenges were also faced with the terrazzo installation to ensure that the flooring could be laid to meet the specification and safety requirements for slip testing while also matching the finish of the existing flooring throughout the station. Various sample panels and methods of grinding the tiles were tried and tested before an agreement was made with all parties for what was acceptable to proceed with.
In what was a challenging but successful project for Ready construction all works were carried out without incident or injury to anyone on site.