Harrow & Wealdstone station

Opened by the London and Birmingham Railway company in 1837, Harrow & Wealdstone was originally classed as a ‘Rural’ station, and mostly surrounded by fields. Today the station serves millions of overground rail passengers annually and, since 1917, has been the final stop for the north-bound Bakerloo London underground line. 

In 2019, a £3.4 million overhaul of the station commenced and Everlast was awarded separate contracts for two major schemes within the project. The first, awarded direct by Network Rail, was for repair of the roof and ceiling of the Grade II listed ticket hall. The other, awarded to Everlast by principal contractor J Murphy & Son, was the re-roofing of the footbridge that spans all platforms, and re-cladding of its four lift towers. The station remained operational and open to passengers throughout both contracts.

Ticket hall roof: The existing leadwork on the ticket hall roof – including the glazing bars on the dome, high level and barrel lights – had largely perished. After stripping the original lead sheets we prepared the roof deck and applied a basecoat of Decothane liquid waterproofing. This was followed by a dark grey Decothane topcoat, chosen to give a ‘lead like’ appearance. We then installed the new barrel and high-level glazed lights and a bespoke replacement for the dome, which had been produced by specialist designers and metalworkers. (The lead in the original base of the dome was still serviceable so we replaced it as per the previous arrangement). Over time, water ingress due to the failed roofing had affected the cornicing and plasterwork of the ceiling in the ticket hall below (and at one point, in 2016, caused a partial ceiling collapse). We replaced all damaged moulding and cornicing to match the original interior features.

Footbridge and lift towers:

The footbridge is a listed structure, serving all six of the station’s platforms. J Murphy appointed Everlast to remove the existing felt roof covering, rainwater systems, and the plywood deck (leaving the original tongue and groove substrate intact). We installed a new General Membranes built-up felt waterproof roofing system (applied over new plywood) and new rainwater goods. Subsequent to these initial works being undertaken, we were asked to re-clad all four lift towers. We stripped back the existing weatherboard and re-clad the towers with KD Western Red Cedar panels, pre-treated with three coats of Teknos Drywood Firestain.

Throughout both work schemes the station remained open and step-free access to all platforms was maintained; space was restricted for customer safety at pre-planned times. The ticket hall is once more a conducive space for staff and customers and this, combined with the refurbishment of the footbridge, has vastly improved the passenger experience.

Everlast Group has worked on a variety of refurbishment and new build across all sectors