Balfour Beatty Vinci Systra joint venture (BBVS), which has a £1.1bn contract for west London’s HS2 interchange, has subcontracted the 850-metre long underground reinforced concrete box to Expanded.
This box, supported by 160 reinforced concrete columns, will form the frame and base for the HS2 Old Oak Common station building.
Expanded began advance works in May. The main construction of the station box began on 27th October and will see Expanded excavate 20 metres below ground level, removing 690,000 cubic metres of clay, before placing 32,000 tonnes of steel and pouring 190,000 cubic tonnes of reinforced concrete.
This top-down construction allows the ground floor slab to be constructed initially with a series of mole holes allowing access for the large excavators to remove the earth from within.
The construction of the box at the east of the site allows the tunnel boring machines (TBM) to be launched towards Euston. The west of the site is where the spray concrete lined tunnel between Old Oak Common and the Victoria Road Crossover box finishes.
HS2’s deputy project client for Old Oak Common station, Rob Avery, said: “The start of work on the gigantic station box structure is a key milestone for the team at Old Oak Common. Work is progressing well on site and we are pleased that Expanded have now joined us on site as the programme continues to move forward.”
Once complete, Old Oak Common station will have 14 platforms and allow a mixture of six high speed and eight conventional service platforms.
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