Cameron Corsby – piecing together custom house

Close up of industrial bricklayer installing bricks on construction site

Built by Laing O’Rourke on the site of the former North London Line station, Custom House Crossrail Station will include a new ticket hall, an interchange with the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and step-free access between the platforms and street level. Used to link the station to the nearby ExCel London, the access bridge was fabricated off-site and then assembled on location to minimise disruption to the DLR and local residents.

In order to create a working platform over the Docklands Light Railway, Laing O’Rourke worked with COMBISAFE to ensure the most appropriate, safe and cost-effective access and edge protection system was used.

James Redman, Senior Engineer, Laing O’Rourke Infrastructure South commented: “The COMBISAFE Engineering team came up with a solution which facilitated not only operative access during the bridge and deck installation but also the follow-on works such as the balustrade installation. The Hanging Platform met our requirements perfectly.”

The structure of the new Custom House Crossrail station has been completed in just one year and one day following off-site manufacturing.

The station, situated in the Royal Docks, has been construction using 825 components which were manufactured in Steetley, near Sheffield, and then transported down to east London to be assembled. They were then installed by a purpose-built 35 tonne gantry crane.

The process of manufacturing the large sections of the station off site in pre-cast concrete was chosen as it simplified the process of building the station, saved time, reduced disruption, improved the quality and made the process safer.

Mujahid Khalid, Crossrail Project Manager at Custom House, said: “Piecing together the 825 sections that make up the station’s structure has been a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle. It’s been impressive to see the building go up so quickly and efficiently and a lot of hard work has gone in from everyone on the project.”

“Now the structure is complete, the focus will turn to fitting out the building with escalators, lifts and everything else to turn it into a fully operating station.”

This construction process helped to simplify the building process, making it safer for workers as well as reducing disruption to those living in the area.

 

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