Balfour Beatty has ticket to build

Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering has been awarded a contract to construct a new northern ticket hall as part of the phased development of King’s Cross St. Pancras Underground station.

The new below ground ticket hall project has already commenced and construction will start in summer this year. It will allow the London Underground station to handle an anticipated 92,000 passengers during the daily morning peak by 2011. The works will be undertaken without impeding the station’s 80 million annual passengers.

Partial completion of the works in 2008 will allow access for Network Rail to proceed with redevelopment of the mainline station. Balfour Beatty said in a statement that works at both the London Underground and mainline station will be completed in good time for the 2012 Olympics.

The scope of the work is predominantly below ground and comprises the construction of the northern ticket hall adjacent to King’s Cross main railway station. It includes construction and fitout of a three-storey concrete box which will provide improved access to the Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines via banks of new escalators and Mobility Impaired Person (MIP) lifts. Fitout works include both architectural finishes and the installation of building services.