Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd

Thameslink Blackfriars Station and Bridge Reconstruction Scheme

Client: Network Rail
Design: Jacobs & Tony Gee
Date of Completion: 2011
Contract Value: £275 million

Scheme Background

In April 2008, Network Rail awarded Balfour Beatty the contract to deliver Blackfriars Station and Bridge Reconstruction Scheme, a vital part of the £5.5 billion government funded Thameslink investment managed by network rail.
The project headed by Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Major Projects Division as part of an integrated Balfour Beatty Team.

The Works

The contract is split into two distinct phases. The £15 million Stage One Contract provides for the setting of an agreed target cost and timelines for the completion of the Stage Two major works.

Stage One also covers a wide range of advanced works at and around the existing National Rail and Underground Stations and on the railway bridge across the River Thames. The first step of Stage One, demolition, commences October 2008.

Stage Two, commences in 2009 with a completion date at the end of 2011, by which time Blackfriars will have been completely rebuilt. The Thameslink Programme will deliver a new station able to handle 12 car trains for the first time and significantly more trains able to stop at the station every hour.

The station also becomes the first to span the Thames, with a new roof over the entire platform length and a new entrance on the South Bank providing better access to the Tate Modern and the surrounding area. The Underground station will also be significantly enhanced.

The Thameslink Programme tackles overcrowding on some of the UK's busiest routes and is to be completed in time for the Olympic Games; the works will allow the core route through central London to accommodate 12 car trains at double the frequency currently possible.

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