Home > Awards > King's Cross Redevelopment Programme: Package 4

Interim Client & Outline Design Award

Project Team:
Client: Network Rail and Argent
Design: Waterman Civils Limited, Waterman Building Services, Pascall & Watson
Construction: Taylor Woodrow
Sub-contractors: Morrisroe (Concrete and steel), McGee (Groundworks), Cementation (Piling)

The Project

King’s Cross station is at the heart of the busiest transport interchange in the country with over 47 million people using the station every year. This figure is expected to rise by a further 10 million within a decade due to increased tourism and major events taking place in London, such as the 2012 Olympics.

King’s Cross Package 4 is part of a wider development of the area and has a total value of £28.3m. The project consists of the construction of a 10-metre-deep basement with access ramp to house a plant room and service yard which will facilitate the main station. The new service yard will accommodate services such as waste disposal and deliveries that are currently undertaken in the operating station.

Aerial photograph of the site between St Pancras Station (bottom left) and King’s Cross Station

The works required:

• Over 370 piles as part of a ‘top down’ construction method
• Approximately 43,000m³ of soil to be excavated
• 10,000m3 of reinforced concrete and
• 1,850 tonnes of reinforcement to be constructed.

Diagrammatic representation of Package 4 showing extent of contiguous piling and part top down approach to construction

Groundwater/water resources

Early consultation was made with the Environmental Agency to ensure that the proposed piling technique did not affect the underlying Major Chalk Aquifer. Ongoing consultation was also made with Thames Water to ensure that the project obtained the consent to discharge groundwater from the site.

Archaeology

Heritage/Archaeology specialists were consulted early in the development process to ensure that potential archaeological features (such as the Milk Dock Wall) were not affected by works

Community

Led by a dedicated Community Liaison Officer, the project team, has

• set up a series of fundraising events for local charities
• developed partnerships with local community groups and businesses and
• organised networking events for sub-contractors to meet local recruitment and training agencies.

One such partnership is with the London Wildlife Trust at the neighbouring Camley Street Natural Park. Fundraising events have been undertaken to raise money for the Trust to help them buy new boats to be used for maintenance and community outreach programmes.

Contaminated Land

Historically, the site and immediate surrounding area comprised railway lines, a railway goods yard, an engineering works, a garage and a clothing factory. Gasworks also have extended onto the northern part of the site at one time. Various site investigations and a Phase I desktop survey were carried out as part of the planning and design process.

Waste

Due to the significant quantities of excavated material and the high diversion from landfill targets set in the early phases, a waste ‘broker’ was used on the project. The use of this broker minimised the amount of material that required disposal in a landfill and increased the amount of material that could be reused or recycled.

Photograph of SSY basement taken with fish-eye lens to capture the extent of the excavation

Noise

Noise monitoring was undertaken early in the design phases at seven identified receptors to establish baseline conditions. A Section 61 consent is also in place with the local authority.

Heritage - Suburban Train Shed

The majority of works run directly parallel with this significant heritage feature so working methods had to be altered to ensure the protection of this Grade I listed Building.

‘Bottoming-out’ celebration with site, client and Taylor Woodrow teams on the successful completion of the basement excavation

Key Contacts

Taylor Woodrow Project Manager: Richard Wall Morris, 07816 514932, richard.wall-morris@taylorwoodrow.com

Environmental Manager/CEEQUAL assessor: Dawn Watson, 07816 515568, dawn.watson@taylorwoodrow.com

Environment Team Leader - Technology Centre/CEEQUAL assessor: Paul Sandall, 07816 514507, paul.sandall@taylorwoodrow.com