Northampton’s £20M station open for business

Northampton’s new steel framed railway station building (NSC Sept 2014), designed to meet the growing number of commuters and visitors travelling to and from the town, opened in January.

“The project was always going to be a steel framed structure for efficiency,” said Jacobs Project Engineer Rob Hazell. ”The main challenge was fitting the station into its footprint which is bounded by railway lines and a main road on two elevations. This resulted in the building’s rhomboid shape and the irregular grid pattern of the steelwork.”

Long clear spans for the entrance and concourse areas were also an important consideration and another reason for using steel.

The ground floor of the building accommodates the main entrance from the drop off point and taxi rank, back-of-house facilities, ticket machines, retail zones all arranged around a 15m wide foyer.

Lifts and a main staircase give access up to the first floor, which contains another entrance from the adjacent road bridge, the main ticket office, more retail outlets, and access to all five platforms via the new footbridge and gateline.

Working on behalf of main contractor Buckingham Group Contracting, Billington Structures fabricated, supplied and erected 230t of steel for the project.