Fit-out on track at London Bridge Station

Due to complete in January 2018, the ongoing redevelopment of London Bridge Station is one of the country’s most complex transportation projects and one reliant on steel construction.

Fit-out of the station is now under way with Bourne Special Projects (part of Bourne Construction Engineering) providing structural steelwork for new retail units, which are situated in the new concourse as well as in the east and west entrances.

The company has also fabricated, supplied and erected steelwork to create four staff accommodation blocks, three of which are under the existing Victorian brick arches and one in the new concourse area.

“This work is very complex as the site is extremely tight and manoeuvering steel under the concourse has to be done with forklifts or small items of lifting equipment,” said Bourne Special Projects Divisional Director Howard Cox.

Each of the station’s platforms will be served by an escalator and two staircases from the concourse. Bourne has also erected some of these staircase structures, all of which are fabricated from weathering steel as this material will require less maintenance in the future.

Bourne is also erecting a new 10m-tall × 70m-long architectural steel-framed station façade along Tooley Street.

Around 54M passengers use London Bridge Station each year and Network Rail’s redevelopment, which is part of the Thameslink Programme, will provide improved facilities and two-thirds more space for passengers.

The new concourse at London Bridge will be bigger than the pitch at Wembley Stadium with new retail and station facilities unifying the station for the first time so that passengers can access all platforms from one place.