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JRNL-UK-RAIL-2015-ICE-construction Kings Cross Station TRANS V167 TR4
JRNL-UK-RAIL-2015-ICE-construction Kings Cross Station TRANS V167 TR4
Volume 167 Issue TR4 Transport 167 August 2014 Issue TR4
Pages 207–216 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/tran.12.00022
Construction of the King’s Cross northern Paper 1200022
ticket hall, London, UK Received 30/01/2012 Accepted 19/11/2012
Published online 22/04/2013
Worthington and Awinda Keywords: contracting/excavation/foundations/temporary works
j
1 j
2
The recent completion of Network Rail’s new western concourse at King’s Cross station is the culmination of over 12
years of above and below ground station modernisation work that has transformed rail transport links in this part of
north London, UK. The new concourse has been constructed directly above London Underground’s northern ticket
hall, which was the second and last phase of the redevelopment of its King’s Cross St Pancras station. The construction
of the northern ticket hall was a major undertaking and ultimately provided the support structure for the western
concourse. The new ticket hall greatly enhances the overall capacity of the underground station and provides a
second means of access to the Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines while also incorporating below ground links to
both the King’s Cross and St Pancras main line stations and to the enlarged Tube ticket hall. This paper describes the
overall construction methodology of the main box forming the ticket hall with particular reference to the techniques
used for bulk excavation, installation of plunge columns and the use of temporary propping.
1. Introduction routes from the new ticket hall to the existing station platforms
The northern ticket hall sits beneath the new semicircular western (Bessant, 2004). Piling was undertaken from existing ground
concourse to the west of King’s Cross main line station in London, level and those piles designed to support the internal columns of
UK (Figure 1) and was built during phase 2 of the underground the ticket hall were constructed with a removable hollow tube
station redevelopment, whereas the Tube ticket hall and western into which the steel plunge columns would later be installed.
ticket hall were both completed during phase 1 (Evans et al., 2011).
Given the close proximity of the existing listed buildings, monitor-
The main box forming the northern ticket hall (Figure 2) was ing of ground movements throughout the construction period was
constructed over a four-year period at a cost of £150 million and essential to check that any resulting settlements were within
involved the top-down construction of a four-level 21-metre-deep previously determined limits (Macklin and Yeow, 2004). Monitor-
reinforced concrete and steel structure. Work on the main box ing of loads in several of the temporary props and monitoring of
began in May 2006 and the majority of the civil and structural the deflections in the tower-crane mono-pile foundations were also
works were completed by December 2007. Fit-out of the ticket undertaken, recognising the importance of ensuring the safety of
hall and associated access tunnels and link passages then the adjacent main line station and the thousands of commuters
followed, which included installation of all the architectural using the station or passing the site each day.
finishes, communications’ equipment, lifts and escalators, and
building services. The ticket hall was opened ahead of schedule 2. Construction sequence
in November 2009 with overall completion in 2010. The construction sequence for the new ticket hall was established
by the designer to suit a largely top-down form of construction,
The main box structure was built within a previously installed although there was an opportunity for the contractor to review
contiguous bored pile wall forming the perimeter of the box. The and refine the sequence pre-contract. The works were broken
piling works, which also included large-diameter bored piles down into various stages which included the installation of
beneath the structure, were undertaken in advance under a temporary props as the excavation proceeded downwards. A
separate contract. Also constructed in advance was the hub shaft, series of construction-sequence drawings prepared by the designer
which provided the starting point for the tunnelling works that also indicated the temporary loads that needed to be catered for
proceeded independently of the main box to create the access by the props.
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Transport Construction of the King’s Cross northern
Volume 167 Issue TR4 ticket hall, London, UK
Worthington and Awinda
York Way
St P Northern Ticket Hall
ancr
as li
nk
King’s Cross
Victoria
line
Piccadilly
Pan
Link passag
eway
s
Victoria
Roa
St Pancras line
d
International access
Piccadilly
line access
Tube Ticket Hall
Northern
line Northern &
access Victoria lines
access
Northern Thames
line Link
District &
Circle lines
District &
Circle lines
access
N
Midland
District &
Western Ticket Hall Circle lines
Road
3. Initial excavation and plunge column positioned within steel plunge tubes which had previously been
installation installed on top of the concrete piles. The plunge tubes were
Top-down construction was adopted by the permanent-works ‘plunged’ into the top of the wet concrete during pile construc-
designer in order to provide the ground slab at the earliest tion, giving rise to both their name and the term, plunge columns.
practicable time. In addition, this method of construction also
minimised ground movements, thereby greatly reducing the risk Prior to the installation of the plunge columns, the ground was
of any damage to the adjacent King’s Cross main line station and reduced to a level where the top of the casings was at waist
Great Northern Hotel, both of which are listed structures. height. The top section of the casings then provided edge
protection against falls down the casing.
The design required the installation of 27 plunge columns inside
steel casings prior to commencement of bulk excavation (Figure Plunge columns were installed by the steelwork subcontractor,
3). These plunge columns were designed to support the vertical Watson Steel Structures Limited (WSSL), over a two-week
load from the northern ticket hall slabs as construction progressed programme starting from the middle of August 2006. Planning of
downwards and were also designed to support the future western optimal locations for the mobile crane used for the column
concourse that would be built later by others under a separate installation was undertaken in close liaison with the steelwork
Network Rail contract. The bottom ends of the columns were subcontractor in order to minimise crane movements while
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Transport Construction of the King’s Cross northern
Volume 167 Issue TR4 ticket hall, London, UK
Worthington and Awinda
N
Cross and St Pancras Stations
5 m below ground
To surface
Escalators take
passengers down
20 m to the Tube
concourse
41 300 m3
Link passageway excavation quantity (phase 2)
and Northern 11 900 m3
line access structural concrete (phase 2)
Link to
Tube King’s Cross
ticket hall trains
Grout holes maximising the number of columns that could be installed from
one crane location. The heaviest column weighed 15 t and using
a 70 t mobile crane allowed an operating radius of 9 m.
4. Bulk excavation
Plunge column installation The excavation required the removal of 41 300 m3 of material
1. Survey plunge tube consisting of made ground, London clay and old buried struc-
2. Fabricate column to reflect survey tures. The main challenges were posed by the constricted nature
3. Fix base plates
4. Place shims inside plunge tube on site
of the site, the need to progress construction activities without
5. Drop column down pile bore disrupting station users, and restrictions on working hours and
6. Erect surrounding floor beams vehicle movements imposed by local authorities.
7. Grout bottom base plate
8. Final encasement of stub column as base slab is constructed
All of the excavation occurred above the groundwater table and
Figure 3. Installation of plunge columns temporary drainage was principally only required to cater for
rainwater removal. A small amount of water seepage occurred in
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Transport Construction of the King’s Cross northern
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Plunge column
Top of casing
columns
106 and load the spoil into road wagons for disposal off site. The
material excavated consisted of the remaining layer of made
100
ground followed by London clay.
96
Disposal of excavated material had been identified as one of the
Piles top-ten commercial project risks. Before each loaded wagon left
the site, a waste-transfer ticket was issued specifying the type of
material it was carrying and the location of the disposal site. This
procedure was carried out to comply with duty of care imposed
Figure 5. Typical cross-section through northern ticket hall by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (1990) to pass on all
relevant information to the chain of custody. The disposal site
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115·4 110·5
115·4
110·5
Hub shaft
115·4
115·4
To Tube ticket hall
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120
The environmental impacts of activities such as pile breakdown
and fuelling of plant were considered with regard to dust, noise and
contamination through spillages. Control measures were specified
115
and operatives on site were briefed on the same. Prior consent for
work on site under Section 61 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974
(1974) was obtained from Camden Borough Council. The above 110
legislation was complied with by specifying the works and method
by which they were to be carried out, including steps proposed to
be taken to minimise noise resulting from the works. 105
5. Movement monitoring
Prior to the start of the bulk excavation for the northern ticket 100
Level: m
hall and before the tunnelling work for the link passages began,
ground-movement-monitoring equipment had been installed to
measure vertical and horizontal movement of the adjacent build- 95
ings. This was undertaken using permanently installed automated
total stations that took readings in ‘real time’ on pre-installed Excavation level
targets fixed to the buildings. Readings were relayed back to a 90
Inclinometer results
server that was accessible by way of the Internet. The monitoring Very high alarm
also involved the use of several inclinometers installed in the High alarm
85 Low alarm
contiguous piled wall forming the perimeter wall of the main box
forming the ticket hall.
80
A system of warning levels was established that automatically
triggered an internal notification by text if movement reached
predetermined levels. Graphical output of the readings was 75
produced to show the progressive movement as the excavation ⫺10 ⫺5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
proceeded. These graphs were reviewed by the project team to Lateral movement: mm
check that movements were consistent with the excavation
Figure 9. Results of inclinometer ground monitoring
activities being undertaken and consistent with the predicted
movements which had to take into account diurnal and seasonal
effects. Three trigger levels – green, amber and red – were
established and Figure 9 indicates the extent of the actual The close proximity of the site to the grade II listed Western
movement relative to these trigger levels that was recorded in one Range building was an important consideration in preparing the
of the pile inclinometers during the period of the bulk excavation. lifting plans. Prior to the erection of the tower crane, a 70-tonne
Movements towards the excavation were recorded as positive crawler crane was used to erect the steel and precast units at
lateral displacements. ticket hall and roof levels. During lifting operations the crane jib
was positioned parallel to or away from the Western Range
6. Structural steelwork building at all times (Figure 10).
A total of about 1800 t of structural steel beams and girders was
erected on the previously installed plunge columns. Erection of The plunge columns had previously been positioned, plumbed
structural steel and precast concrete units was started by the and held in place by a temporary frame welded to the steel
steelwork subcontractor during a return visit after the completion casings. The beams were lifted into position by either tower or
of bulk excavation to level 1. crawler crane using lifting brackets bolted to the top flange about
their centre of gravity. The temporary angle supports were
Due to the constricted nature of the site, the logistics were retained until the columns were stabilised by the connecting
planned carefully with the steelwork subcontractor to ensure that beams in two directions.
the steel and precast planks were delivered on a just-in-time
basis. Detailed coordination was required between the steelwork During the erection of the structural steelwork and installation of
subcontractor and other ongoing activities such as concreting precast planks, mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) were
operations to ensure that enough time was allocated on the tower extensively used to prevent falls by reducing the need for erectors
crane to minimise disruptions to the erection process. This was to go onto the steel to make connections. Timber mats were
achieved largely by a collaborative approach fostered throughout placed on firm, level ground for use by mobile cranes and
the project and by regular meetings where safety, quality, progress MEWPs to prevent sinking or overturning of plant in wet
and future activities were reviewed. conditions.
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floatable free surface. It was important for the ground below the
Guide plates for
installation of metal surface to be firm and level to avoid difficulties that could
precast planks arise from the skates floating down a slope. The skate system
used a bearing system with a maximum capacity of 14 t to carry
Upstands on the deeper
steel beams up to 7 t in weight.
plate girders to support
the precast planks
Shear The roof slab at level 0 and the ticket hall slab at level 1 were
studs constructed using in-situ concrete placed over precast concrete
planks (Figure 11). The precast planks were lowered onto
prefabricated extensions to the bottom flanges of the steel beams
by crane and were used as permanent formwork for the 450 mm
Protection cover to top of pile casing
of in-situ concrete placed above. Shear studs on the top flanges
cut down to ticket hall beam level
of the steel beams tied the slabs to the steelwork to form a
continuous slab across the structure (Figure 12). One of the
Figure 10. Structural steel erected at ticket hall and roof level benefits of this type of composite slab was that it avoided the
need for falsework, thus shortening construction time (Bessant,
2004). Once a sufficient area of slab had been constructed across
the full width of the main box, the slab acted as the permanent
Erection of the structural steelwork at level 1 in the north-east prop to the contiguous pile walls.
section of the site presented a particular challenge in that the
roof-level slab had already been constructed and therefore the The roof slab was constructed first and openings were left to allow
tower crane could not be used for installation. A berm had construction to proceed below. The ticket hall slab followed and
previously been left in this position to provide temporary once it was in place excavation proceeded beneath until reaching
propping and was only excavated once the roof slab had been the underside of the slab at level 2. The slab at this level was a
constructed. piled raft varying in thickness between 1100 mm and 2200 mm.
Use of chain blocks or similar arrangements supported from the Although the majority of the construction work followed the top-
roof-level steel beams was ruled out to avoid the risk of down approach, the inclined escalator slab was constructed from
movement of the structural steelwork, which was at this stage still the bottom upwards. The slab was inclined at 308 and trial mixes
temporarily fixed as the raft slab at level 4 had not been cast to and pours were undertaken to establish the best mix to form this
fix the column bases. The solution was to lower the steel beams inclined slab. A low-slump mix which included a combination of
through the nearest roof opening onto air skates that were placed additives to allow the concrete to be pumped 21 m below ground
on a flat metal surface (Figure 11). The skate system used level proved successful in the trials and was selected. The
compressed air to ‘float’ on the metal surface, which allowed 1000 mm deep slab was divided into a series of pours and
the operatives to push and guide the beams and skates on the additional mesh reinforcement was placed at 1 m centres up the
Figure 11. Use of the air skate for steel erection below the roof
slab Figure 12. Ticket hall roof steel beams and precast slabs
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Transport Construction of the King’s Cross northern
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slope to assist in preventing the wet concrete flowing down the as flanged sections in order to allow them to be lowered by crane
slope during the pours. through temporary openings in the roof slab and then bolted
together in position. To minimise the risk of ground movement,
7. Wall linings the props were pre-loaded by use of flat jacks that were installed
The walls of the ticket hall were required to be watertight and, to at one end of the props to apply a pre-load of 10 kN to take up
achieve this, reinforced concrete lining walls were cast against any slack before the ends of the props were grouted in place.
the contiguous piles. As some of these walls were load-bearing
and formed an integral part of the structural box they were tied to Given the sensitivity around ground movement, strain gauges
the piles with dowel bars. Integrity testing of 10% of the dowels were installed on the six tubular props (two sets of three) at level
bars was undertaken by applying test loads of 1.25 times the 1 to monitor the loads being applied and check that the design
design load following the grouting of the bars. Any failures loads were not being exceeded. Automatic reading of the strain
resulted in additional bars being tested until a statistically signifi- gauges allowed a continuous assessment of the loads, and Figure
cant number of dowels had reached the test load. Although water 14 indicates the increasing loads as excavation proceeded. The
bar was used in all construction joints, a small amount of seepage regular variation in the prop loads was due to diurnal temperature
did occur which was subsequently dealt with by grout injection. changes and this was more pronounced on the three props
exposed to sunlight (props 1–3).
Given the 125-year design life of the ticket hall, a secondary
means of seepage protection was constructed by use of internal 9. Tower-crane foundations and deflection
blockwork lining walls with a drainage channel behind. The monitoring
blockwork was tied to the concrete using wall ties and the cavity Owing to the space constraints of the site it was necessary to
formed meant that all the internal finishes would not be prone to position the first of the two tower cranes required for the project
water damage in the future if seepage ultimately occurred. within the construction area of the ticket hall. As the crane was
required early in the programme before completion of the
8. Temporary propping and load monitoring excavation, a single 2.1 m dia. steel tubular pile was installed as
The requirement for temporary propping was a prerequisite for the foundation for the crane (Figure 15(a)). The pile extended
the structural stability of the ticket hall during the different into the London clay from ground level of +116.5 to +90.0 which
construction stages and involved the use of both proprietary and was about 16 m below the level 2 slab. This meant that the pile
custom-made props. Propping loads had been predetermined by would become exposed as the excavation proceeded downwards.
the permanent-works designer as part of their structural analysis
of the ticket hall. The propping design was undertaken in close To provide the connection between the tubular steel pile and the
collaboration with the designer to ensure that suitable load paths tower crane, a structural steel grillage was designed by Tony Gee
were provided across the main box as the excavation and slab and Partners. The grillage was prefabricated off site and included
construction works proceeded. a short section of the tubular pile, which was then welded to the
pile on site (Figure 15(b)). Non-destructive testing of the welds
The most significant propping was that of the large-diameter was undertaken before the crane was installed.
tubular steel props that were installed across the escalator open-
ings at levels 1 and 2 (Figure 13). The props were designed When the level 1 ticket hall slab was constructed it was decided
to use the slab to restrain the movement in the pile caused by the
crane’s operation. Without this restraint there was a risk that sway
in the pile would cause a gap between the clay and the pile,
800
700
600
500
Load: kN
400
300
200 Props 1–3
100 Props 4–6
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Time: d
Figure 13. Temporary prop at levels 1 and 2 Figure 14. Strain gauge measurements of temporary prop loads
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10. Conclusion
Construction of the King’s Cross northern ticket hall involved a
number of significant challenges, not least of which was main-
taining the integrity of the existing surrounding infrastructure and
ensuring the safety of the public using the two adjacent main line
stations. The risks of constructing such a deep structure in close
proximity to King’s Cross station were mitigated through close
collaboration with the designer to ensure that a combination of
temporary and permanent works always provided support across
the structure as the excavation proceeded downwards. Neverthe-
less, it was the use of the various monitoring regimes that
provided the regular feedback to verify that work was proceeding
in a controlled and safe manner.
(b) Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the permission of the Depart-
Figure 15. (a) Installation of the tower-crane cylindrical pile and ment of Transport and London Underground to publish this paper.
(b) Installation of the tower-crane support grillage Acknowledgement is also given to Arup who provided the
graphic showing the typical cross-section of the northern ticket
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hall and to Sol Data who provided the original ground-movement REFERENCES
and propping-monitoring data. Bessant GT (2004) King’s Cross underground station, London: an
overview. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers –
The participants involved in the northern ticket hall project were Transport 157(4): 211–220.
as follows Control of Pollution Act 1974 (1974) Elizabeth II. Chapter 40.
Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, UK.
Environmental Protection Act 1990 (1990) Elizabeth II. Chapter
j Client: Department of Transport and London Underground 43. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, UK.
j Project manager: Atkins/Balfour Beatty Management Evans P, Turzynski J, Oag R and Sindle A (2011) Super
j Lead designer: Arup subterranean hub: updating King’s Cross St Pancras.
j Architect: Allies and Morrison Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Civil
j Ground-movement monitoring subcontractor: Sol Data Engineering 164(2): 73–80.
j Principal contractor northern ticket hall: Balfour Beatty Civil Macklin SR and Yeow HC (2004) King’s Cross underground
Engineering Limited station, London: geotechnical aspects. Proceedings of
j Tower-crane foundation designer: Tony Gee and Partners the Institution of Civil Engineers – Transport 157(4):
j Steelwork Subcontractor: Watson Steel Structures Limited. 221–229.
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