---
title: Excavation completed at Old Oak Common station
url: "https://www.systra.com/uk/news/excavation-completed-at-old-oak-common-station/"
type: post
date_published: 2024-07-16
date_modified: 2024-07-19
schema:
  @type: Article
language: en-GB
word_count: 562
reading_time: 3 min
canonical: "https://www.systra.com/uk/news/excavation-completed-at-old-oak-common-station/"
featured_image: "https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/07/excavation-completed-at-old-oak-common-station-featured-image.png"
categories:
  - Non classé
---

# Excavation completed at Old Oak Common station

![Construction area of Old Oak Common showing the excavation of the box completed.](https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/07/excavation-completed-at-old-oak-common-station-featured-image.png)

Over the past three years a staggering 1.3 million tonnes of London Clay has
been removed from the station box – that’s enough to fill more than 300
Olympic-size swimming pools!

Construction is being delivered for HS2 by the Balfour Beatty VINCI SYSTRA joint
venture (BBVS JV), working with specialist structures contractor Expanded. The
JV took full possession of the site in July 2020, and over the past four years
has been working hard on the station box, which has involved the creation of a
diaphragm wall and plenty of piling activity.

The box is 20m in depth and a reinforced concrete base slab up to 2m in depth is
being poured throughout. Some 32,000 tonnes of steel rebar, assembled by hand on
site, has been used in the box alongside 160 reinforced concrete columns which
have been installed inside the outer wall to help support the structure.

The conveyor system to remove the excavated materials became fully operational
in November 2022, and has removed the need for more than 75,000 lorries from the
roads. The conveyor took the spoil to the nearby London Logistics Hub, from
where it has been transported by rail to beneficial reuse sites in Kent,
Warwickshire and Cambridgeshire.

![The team at Old Oak Common celebrates the final excavation of the Old Oak Common box. They are stood in a group in the construction area of the project, all wearing orange high-vis PPE. Some of the group have their fists raised in the air and they are all cheering and smiling.](https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/07/team-celebrates-final-exacavtion-of-ooc-box-1024x683.png)

_The team celebrates the final excavation of the OOC Box (image source)_

All steel used was 100% responsibly sourced and most of the concrete used is
produced by the London Concrete batching plant on site, which reuses rainwater
in its mixes. Now the box has been fully excavated, the team will be working to
pour the final sections of base slab to fully complete the box.

Nizar Awad, Old Oak Common Project Director at SYSTRA, said: “This milestone is
truly significant in the Old Oak Common station project and a proud moment for
every member of the team. It is not only a construction achievement but it has
had a positive impact on the environment too by reducing the need for HGVs and
ensuring reuse of materials. We now look forward to the next phase of the work
to bring the station to life and bring high speed trains between London and the
Midlands.”

Six 450m platforms will be constructed in the underground box for HS2 services.
Above ground, eight further platforms are being built, and will be served by the
Elizabeth Line, Great Western Mainline services and the Heathrow Express. Old
Oak Common station will become one of the country’s most vital transport hubs
which will be directly connected on the UK’s railway network to more than 170
destinations.

The east end of the underground box has been handed over to HS2’s London Tunnels
contractor, who are preparing to construct HS2’s running tunnel to Euston. Two
giant tunnel boring machines will be lowered into the underground box later this
year, before the station team commences building the roof structure of the
super-hub station.

Learn about our work on HS2
[here](https://www.systra.com/uk/project/hs2-high-speed-line/).

**Categories:** Non classé