A blog by Project Manager Graeme Murray

BAM Nuttall, in joint venture with partners Taylor Woodrow and Otis recently delivered the Harrow on the Hill Station as part of London Underground’s step free access programme. Harrow on the Hill Station is the 91st station to be completed as TfL work towards a more accessible London.

As civil engineers we encounter a range of projects – all of which have a huge effect on the lives of those living and working in the communities that surround them. Be it a new railway line or a flood defence, a civil engineer’s job is to leave the area better than we found it, and more fit for the future. This is especially true of our London Underground Step Free Access project. At Harrow on the Hill, the local community have waited patiently for an accessible station with passenger lifts from the platforms to concourse. Today has been a fantastic day as we’ve delivered, for the local community, Step Free Access and enhanced accessibility and mobility around the capital.

Harrow on the Hill Step Free Access project is the largest and most complex accessibility project on the current programme. We have created four new lifts to the station, including a single lift enabling access from the street level to the ticket hall concourse; remodelled back of house areas into a new modern front of house area; and developed new offices for staff. We have modified the existing platform canopies to accommodate the three new platform lifts - complete with a new steel access bridge and a steel link bridge – which allow the new lifts to be linked back to the existing ticket hall. We have installed new, and upgraded existing, power supplies to the station and upgraded CCTV and communication systems. All construction activities have been completed during traffic and engineering hours with no possessions. To achieve this, we worked with the London Underground team to challenge the norm, work in new ways and ensure all opportunities were maximised to deliver these works.

We always keep collaboration at the heard of project delivery, but it was particularly instrumental at Harrow on the Hill. We could not have completed this complex scheme without the support of our client TfL, our joint venture partners Taylor Woodrow and Otis, and our subcontractors who have all worked closely as a team to ensure that what has been delivered would result in the maximum and most long lasting benefit.

The ability to create lasting infrastructure within the built environment of an existing station has its challenges. These have been understood and overcome to ensure Harrow on the Hill was delivered as the 91st station on the London Underground network to become Step Free.