New Bond Street Station, heralded as the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Elizabeth Line, and the flagship station is where Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the name of the new underground line.
The prestigious station consists of two new underground lines, accessed via the western and eastern ticket halls which have been designed to reflect Mayfair’s luxurious surroundings.
THE PROJECT
The ticket halls are clad with a mixture of brass, bronze, glazing, stone and precast concrete panelling, which blends into the rest of the underground structure beautifully. Artwork of Victorian design is provided within the interchange areas of the station, giving a nod to the industrial heritage of London’s underground whilst being surrounded by the high-tech nature of the 21st Century.
The bespoke cladding was designed and installed by Sorba who are a specialist façade contractor based in the UK and the Netherlands.
We supported Sorba throughout the design process, in particular helping them to design robust blast resistant cladding solutions for a variety of different material types.
The design solutions utilised modern technologies such as glass-reinforced concrete; insulated metallic panels; lightweight aluminium framing and laminated security glazing. Precast reinforced concrete panelling and stainless-steel sub-framing were also implemented.
We were responsible for ensuring that the architectural elements were capable of resisting the effects of blast, whilst ensuring a sustainable design was developed which optimised the usage of precious materials. To do this we used specialist analytical software and worked closely with Sorba to constantly improve the design as it progressed.
We were also involved with a series of blast tests on the GFRC solutions, used in a number of areas, which tested the resilience of the designed solutions when subjected to a full scale blast test.
Analysis
Working in tandem to implement the security requirements of the project, in addition to having a thorough understanding of Sorba’s manufacturing process was key to successfully developing workable solutions whilst also meeting the stringent architectural constraints.
We are proud to be part of one of the nations largest infrastructure projects, using our 30 years of experience within the field of blast design to deliver world-class blast-enhanced architecture.
