Paddington station: Overcoming highly complex engineering challenges

Appended to Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s original 1854 terminus in London, the new Elizabeth line station at Paddington opened in May 2022 and increased capacity at this major interchange and across the network by 200 million passengers a year.

Redeveloping one of the UK’s busiest rail stations while it remained operational was always going to be a complex undertaking, but as a Grade 1 listed building with a plethora of existing underground infrastructure, all works also required a high degree of sensitivity.

The Ramboll team played an integral role in the design and delivery of the entrance canopy, façades, cladding, conservation and public realm. We worked extensively with stakeholders and partners from the Costain-Skanska Design & Build (CSJV) team to marry the new station with the surrounding area.

The station entrance, canopy and facades

The stunning 120m-long glazed station entrance canopy is arguably the highlight of this station, incorporating the Spencer Finch art installation, ‘Cloud Index’, which floods the station with natural light down to the open platform level. The size of the canopy, exacting client specifications and the sensitive interface with the Grade 1 listed station, all required careful detailing, construction sequencing and coordination with architecture, electrical services and drainage. Ramboll developed the structural detailed design brief with CSJV and took a leading role in the RIBA Stage E detailed design process, helping to achieve the client vision of a crisp structural form.

Different materials provide high quality cladding finishes throughout the new station, including aluminium, bronze, stone, glass, brick-slip and glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC). Ramboll developed design intents for the various cladding support systems to meet the site-specific loading and interface requirements and enable the appointed cladding specialist sub-contractors to understand the constraints and complete the detailed designs.

Urban and Public realm

Careful management of relationships with Westminster City Council (WCC), facilitating key discussions with Network Rail (NR), Transport for London (TfL) and local stakeholders enabled a former bus terminal and taxi rank to be incorporated into a two-phased design of the urban and public realm areas.

As part of the work on the detailed design of the highways and drainage of the urban realm scheme for WCC, the team coordinated the drainage, services and foundations, with all existing underground structures and services, ensuring that heritage features were protected, planning approvals from Historic England secured, and that the overall urban area looked and performed as desired.

Our 3D shared modelling capability was critical to incorporating these design elements within a constrained and complex area, scattered with existing sub-structures, hydraulic and static bollards, benches and other urban realm furniture. This allowed us to progress the design, while remaining responsive to stakeholders’ requirements and as buried historic structures were uncovered.

Conservation engineering to restore historic assets.

Two distinct designs of railings at the station include the original 1854 magnificent west railings with octagonal posts fixed to a semi-circular cast iron kerb and the later,1880, east railings with square posts fixed into a granite coping. Both were carefully dismantled and stored prior to conservation, repair and then reinstallation.

Ramboll’s Conservation Director, Jackie Heath shares the collaboration needed to incorporate the historically important assets “We engaged in extensive dialogue with many disciplines including services, landscape and facades as there were far more constraints in the new layout than for the original railing location. We painstakingly designed each and every plate, bolt, shoe, weld and bracket in stainless steel to ensure all the new fixings were hidden so nothing detracted from the original design, and everything would be durable and maintainable. The railings take a prominent position in the new scheme, proudly standing against the backdrop of the new canopy”.