Redevelopment of the Reading Station area

In 2011, Network Rail, the company that owns and develops Britain’s railway infrastructure, undertook a huge redevelopment of the Reading Station area to meet passenger and freight needs and prepare for future growth.

Reading Station is a busy and significant transfer point for both passengers and freight between the London–Bristol line and services to the south coast and is set to serve up to 28 million passengers per year by 2030.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY DELIVERY

Our team was appointed by Network Rail as Lead Designer to develop the initial architectural design concept for the station to Network Rail’s PACE 1 (Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment) stage. Following delivery of the PACE 1 design, SYSTRA led the delivery of the detailed engineering design for the whole station. Over the course of the project a strong working relationship with Grimshaw was forged, where our individual specialisms in concept and detail design complemented each other.

WORKING IN COLLABORATION

To ensure that the design, and the construction, met the needs of the multiple stakeholders involved in maintaining the operation of the station, SYSTRA worked collaboratively with all parties throughout the planning to deliver their requirements.

To allow the station to remain in operation throughout the redevelopment, the transfer deck was assembled off-site in three sections and then jacked in to its final position with our closing the operational lines.

The redeveloped zone was reopened to the public in 2015.