 Broadgate Plaza Raft, London
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In January 2000, Cleveland Bridge completed a heavy steel and concrete raft over Liverpool Street Station in London, to create the basis for further air rights development. During the 1990s the Broadgate Plaza has been developed by British Land and Railtrack in partnership to exploit the airspace over Liverpool Street Station for valuable property development. Phase 12/13 covers 8000 square metres over the neck of the station, spanning 18 rail tracks and it provides for a 13 storey development scheme. Cleveland Bridge, with its capability for heavy steelwork construction, won the specialist trade contract for the new raft. The structure consists of 4200t of heavy plate girders with very substantial bolted connections to support the weight of the new buildings above: these girders are supported on reinforced concrete columns, with piled foundations constructed by the contractors. Cleveland Bridge undertook:
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The construction constraints presented the logistic and management challenge of the project – with little working space, onerous time constraints, and the hazard of working around electrified railways at a train station. Main thoroughfares of the City of London surround the site with no areas for storage; so components were brought in at night or at weekends from off-site storage areas. Liverpool Street is a busy commuter station that could not be disrupted, so most work was carried out in track possessions with isolation of the overhead lines. With a much higher profile for Health & Safety, every operation required strict management to maintain the safe systems of work.
The raft was completed on time, ready for the development to proceed.