London prepares for Victoria Station upgrade
Mar 2010
Patrick Reynolds, Freelance Reporter
- A JV of Taylor Woodrow and BAM Nuttall has been named lead bidder for the Victoria Station Upgrade project on the London Underground. Transport for London (TfL) is expected to award the contract after the 10-day standstill period. This follows award of the Tottenham Court Road Station Upgrade to the same JV in December last year.
- Two others bid the Victoria Station contract-Balfour Beatty/Morgan Est and Costain/Bachy Soletanche/Laing O'Rourke. The three rival consortia were shortlisted for the contract in 2008. However, by the time the project was approved in mid-2009 and the Transport and Works Act Order permitting the redevelopment came into force in September, TfL was being forced to review its entire budget. The client was squeezed by both the global economic turndown and the financial fallout of the rescue of Metronet, the PPP maintenance contractor for the shallow lines of the Underground, including the Bakerloo, Central, Waterloo & City, District & Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan Lines, that went into bankruptcy administration in early 2008.
- As a result the project plan was changed late last year to be completed in two stages, ending in 2016 and 2018, instead of a single project finishing in 2017.
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Fig 1. Schematic of works for the Victoria Station upgrade
- The full project involves construction of a box structure for a new North Ticket Hall and access to the underground station, plus enlargement of the South Ticket Hall, alongside the main railway station, and excavation of new excavator shafts and pedestrian tunnels around the live tube station lying just outside the footprint of the main Victoria Station terminus on the surface (Fig 1).
- The North Ticket Hall excavation will be completed in the first stage contract. The second stage will involve expanding the existing South Ticket Hall and excavations for connecting escalators and lifts.
- The full Victoria Station Upgrade is quoted as £741 million in the TfL Investment Plan for 2009/10 to 2017/18. Previously, the budget was quoted as £500 million in second quarter 2007 costs.
- The Victoria Station project will relieve congestion between and through the mainline and Underground station and is one of several upgrade projects planned for Underground stations. Next in line for tender is upgrade of Bond Street Station which, like Tottenham Court Road, is an interconnecting station on London's Crossrail route, along with Whitechapel, Paddington, Liverpool Street, and Farringdon Stations. Meanwhile Joseph Gallagher Ltd is advancing a contract to improve access and interconnections at the Green Park Station. This contract is with Tubelines, the PPP company responsible to London Underground and TfL for the maintenance and renewal of the deep level Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly Lines.
- London Underground upgrades and expansions - TunnelTalk, Dec 2009
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Transport for London - Underground station upgrades programme
Transport for London - Tottenham Court Road upgrade
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