Blackfriars – MEP

The refurbishment of Blackfriars Station between client Network Rail and the contractor Balfour Beatty Civils was a major milestone event for the Thameslink Programme.
The refurbishment was required to allow 12 car running in order to commence.

Achieving success with MEP services

Construction on the redevelopment project, estimated to cost £350m, began in 2008 and was meant to complete by 2011.

However, not long after the start, it became apparent that both the budget and the timescale were not achievable. Between August 2009 and December 2012, Project Leaders helped turn this around.

The design revolved around the construction of the new station, which was a brownfield site, to incorporate areas of the old station, with other areas being new construction. As such, the services design had to take these locations into account, which led to some solutions which were not ideal, such as the need to use vacuum drainage for the public toilets, or having to reduce the ceiling height in some of the public areas, due to existing abutments.

Challenges

Prior to the commencement of installation of services, it became apparent that the design was not of enough granular detail to carry out installation. The services designs had not taken into account in all the civils and structural designs.

Without correction, it would result in the creation of impossible service routes, and shallow ceiling voids and walls without penetrations that they would not allow services to fit. At best this would have meant major re-work, at worst it would have meant knocking swathes of the newly constructed station down and starting again.

Aside from the massive financial implications of re-doing the construction element, any further delays may have caused the programme to miss key programme milestones which had been promised to the Department for Transport (DFT).

Our Solutions

Project Leaders Ltd (PLL) were already working at Blackfriars Station, project managing the MEP works and had successfully helped Network Rail resolve previous programme and cost issues.

In a collaborative venture with Network Rail, Jacobs, BBCEL (Civils) and BBESL (Electrical), Project Leaders painstakingly worked through each route for each service, room by room and level by level to develop a 4D computer-designed (CAD) model that would identify and resolve all issues related to the services build.

Where issues were not immediately resolvable, Project Leaders would hold workshops until a resolution would be found. In some cases this would mean a complete re-work of the downstream or upstream design – or in some cases, a change to the services within the area.

Benefits

Once the model was completed, it was used as the basis for construction, and reduced the potential of delay causing issues to a minimum.

Providing Olympic Spirit

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Blackfriars Programme Challenge