Atkins and Balfour Beatty, under the ABB partnership, today celebrated their successful project management of the King’s Cross St Pancras Underground station upgrade as the new Northern ticket hall opened to the public. The works were delivered on budget and ahead of schedule.

The work on the station was split into two stages, both of which were project managed by Atkins and Balfour Beatty. Phase I of the capacity upgrade was completed in 2006 with the addition of a new ticket hall to the West of the station with access to the Metropolitan and Circle Lines.

The Northern Ticket Hall, which was officially opened on Friday (27 Nov) by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and Minister for London, Tessa Jowell MP, completes the second and final phase of the works. It is receiving its first passengers today and will serve as a new interchange between London Underground and King’s Cross St Pancras station. As well as doubling the station’s ticket hall capacity another major benefit is that tourists will no longer have to exit above ground when making the connection with Eurostar services.

Mark Cowlard, partnership Director for Atkins said:

“This was a highly technical and visible project and the key for us as project managers was to make sure London Underground’s aspirations were met whilst not doing anything that would interfere with them running their railway.

“The work had multiple engineering and design facets and it only worked because of the closest of collaborative efforts between the technical teams, London Underground, the delivery contractors, and groups like English Heritage. We had the likes of tunnelling experts working alongside architects, lift technicians, and electrical engineers, and all had to be mindful that King’s Cross is a station with its own unique identity which had to be respected.”

David James, partnership Director for Balfour Beatty, said:

“This first-class major project in the capital has been delivered ahead of both time and budget for our clients London Underground Ltd and Transport for London.  The Project Team was a classic example of integrated working and I would like to thank them for their very dedicated hard work that has underpinned the delivery of this successful scheme.  I know that we are all looking forward to seeing passengers use the new facility for many years to come.”

The Northern ticket hall offers direct access to the Piccadilly, Victoria and Northern lines via access tunnels and escalators. The redesign also offers full step free access with the construction of five new lifts. The final lift, for the Northern Line, will be commissioned as planned next year.

Atkins and Balfour Beatty, as Project Manager for the scheme, have been responsible for the procurement, and co-ordination of all installation activities including co-ordination of tunnelling, civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, communications, and lift and escalator activities.