London Victoria Railway Station

As the start and end point for over 74 million passengers each year, London Victoria is one of the UK’s busiest rail terminals. Connecting London with Gatwick Airport, it brings millions of tourists to the capital and integrates with other key transport links, including the London Underground and Victoria Coach station.

Having first been installed over 150 years earlier, the two main barrel-vaulted roofs over the Eastern ‘Kent’ side of the station had reached the end of their working lives and required extensive renovation. Everlast Group was appointed by main contractor May Gurney to replace the roof coverings, but the first challenge was to ensure the station could continue normal operation during the refurbishment without risk to staff or passengers or disruption to train times.

A crash deck was built under the existing structure to prevent debris falling onto the concourse below. With this in place we were able to get to work, removing the existing materials on the segmental tied arch roof which comprises two spans, one measuring 38m by 138m and the other 39m by 117m. Due to scale of the project, the renovation work was carried out in 1200m² phases.  

Network Rail had to obtain Listed Building Consent (from the City of Westminster and English Heritage) for the renovation, and the choice of panels and profiles products were integral to the successful application. We selected R46 profile (chosen due to its ability to span approximately 2.8m from purlin to purlin) in double-sided Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra®. This advanced coating technology is highly durable and provides superior corrosion resistance, making it particularly suitable for challenging environments like the station. The finish was Goosewing Grey on the external face and Straw on the internal face. The choice of Straw was arrived at following extensive research into the concourse colour scheme, to ensure that replacement colours accurately interpreted the original Victorian paints. Colour matches were also achieved on decorative spandrels, gutter mouldings, the maintenance access system, columns and low-level canopies.

On the concourse, the existing felt roofing laid on timber purlins was replaced by steel purlins and C19 profile (also in Goosewing Grey), laid over purlins at nominal one metre centres, with an internal PM13 profile (in Straw). This provided a like-for-like tongue and grooved boarding effect when viewed from the underside. The existing translucent corrugated sheeting was replaced with stippolyte glazing mounted within a patent glazing bar system. 

“The new roof and wall profiles performed exactly as we hoped they would, and their fast installation properties enabled us to keep the project on track,” commented a spokesperson for May Gurney, “It was a trouble-free installation, and the project was successfully completed without any effect on passenger services.”

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