Curving Manchester’s iconic station roof begins

Steel sections profiled by Barnshaw Metal Bending’s structural branch are to be incorporated in 15 curved steel ribs on the new roof of the £44M redevelopment of Manchester’s Grade II-listed Victoria Station.

The new £16M roof structure has been designed to allow natural daylight to flood the station. The 1.2m deep and 500mm wide ribs were profiled by Barnshaw to the required radii and then fabricated by Severfield-Watson Structures into welded box sections up to 24m long.

Once on site, the sections will be welded together to form single ribs up to 96m long.

A key design focus has been to achieve as lightweight a roof structure as possible, without compromising its strength. Steel was selected ahead of heavier options, such as timber. Additionally, the use of lightweight, transparent and self-cleaning ETFE cladding has enabled the steel ribs to span further than if glazing had been specified.

Gary Dooley, Project Manager for Severfield-Watson Structures said: “We have worked with Barnshaws on many previous projects and the fact that they also have a factory near Manchester made our decision very easy.”

The project is due to complete in early 2015.