The construction of an enormous deck that will help support the platforms at Birmingham’s new HS2 station has begun with the first of more than 556 concrete beams lifted into position.
The huge horizontal beams – up to 34 metres long and weighing as much as 58 tonnes – will support the seven platforms being built at Curzon Street station. Each one of the reinforced concrete beams is being precast off-site before being moved into position in a meticulously planned operation.
It underlines the scale of the progress being made on the station which will be covered by a huge arched roof the size of London’s St Pancras International. In March, HS2 Ltd announced that all 2,011 concrete piles that form a key part of the station’s foundations had been completed.
Once complete, the station will stretch for around 450 metres between Moor Street and Millennium Point with easy onward connections to the city centre, Digbeth and Eastside. A new tram stop will also be built under the station as part of the line currently under construction towards Digbeth and the site of Birmingham City’s new football stadium.
Construction of the terminus is being led by HS2’s construction partner, Mace Dragados, which is working with specialist subcontractors MPB to lift the concrete beams into place. This work is initially focused on the area where the tram will pass under the station, so it can be handed over to Midlands Metro Alliance to begin laying track as early as possible.
HS2 Ltd’s Project Client for Curzon Street, Jonathan Berry said:
“We’ve been making good progress with the construction of the station, but up to now, it’s mostly been beneath the ground – focused on the piling and foundations that will underpin the building.
“That’s why it’s great to see the first beams in position as we begin to assemble the enormous deck that will support our seven high speed platforms. Once complete, Curzon Street will become a new gateway to Birmingham, offering easy access to the city centre and connections to onward destinations, via tram, bus and rail, improving journeys and supporting growth across the West Midlands.”
For most of their length, Curzon Street’s seven platforms will be built on a viaduct-like structure supported by 188 concrete piers. These will form a huge 13,370 square metre deck – the size of two football pitches – which will support part of the platforms and connect to the viaducts coming into the station from the east.
The beams – which are between 7 and 34 metres long and weigh between 14 and 58 tonnes – are being manufactured in a factory in Ireland by Shay Murtagh Precast before being delivered to site by road. To avoid traffic, the deliveries are meticulously planned and timed to arrive early in the morning when the roads are quiet.
They are made up of 488 U-beams and 68 narrower L-beams.
While most of the beams will be lifted directly into position with large crawler cranes, up to 120 of the beams, which are closer in proximity to the existing railway, are being lifted onto a specialised piece of equipment called a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) to be moved into their final position.
Supported by 96 wheels, these highly manoeuvrable machines lift the beams to be lifted from underneath and place them precisely into position. This avoids the risk of using cranes next to the railway and allow services to keep running into Birmingham New Street during the work. The first two beams were lifted on Friday.
Martyn Woodhouse, Project Director, Mace Dragados Joint Venture, said:
“Lifting these first beams into place is a major logistical and engineering achievement, and a testament to the coordination across our teams and supply chain. Each installation has been carefully planned to ensure it’s carried out safely and efficiently, particularly in such a constrained and operational environment.
This work is laying the groundwork for the platforms and brings us another step closer to delivering a world-class station for Birmingham.”
Beneath the station, more than 2,000 piles, ranging from 6 to 24 metres deep, have been sunk into position by Mace Dragados, working with specialist subcontractor Keltbray. An 8-metre-high retaining wall has also been built at the western end of the site – where the land rises up towards the city centre – and 47,000 cubic metres of material excavated to create a level base for the platforms.
At the peak of the work, more than a thousand people are expected to be employed on the Curzon Street project, both directly and via Mace Dragados’s UK supply chain. To accommodate the growing workforce, construction teams will soon begin moving into a new temporary office block opposite Millenium Point, which will be the nerve centre for the next stage of the project.
Once complete, the high-speed line between London and the West Midlands will become an integral part of the UK rail network, helping to improve journeys and free up space on the existing West Coast Main Line for more freight and local services.
The programme is now undergoing a fundamental reset led by Mark Wild, Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, to ensure that the railway is delivered as efficiently as possible and for the lowest reasonable cost.
Image credit: HS2