New Blackfriars Station

The scope of the project was to construct an iconic new London station spanning the Thames as part of the wider Thameslink Programme.

The goals of the project were to increase line capacity by accommodating a much higher frequency of longer trains; improve the experience of passengers by building more and bigger platforms; improve accessibility and interchange with the London Underground and to radically improve the sustainability of the station in terms of C02 emissions and consumption if grid energy.

New Blackfriars Station

The key outputs of the project included:

• iconic architectural design spanning the River Thames
• more space on trains: longer platforms allowed train lengths to increase from 8 to 12 carriages
• more trains per hour: twice the number of platforms and new track systems mean services have increased from 8 trains per hour to 12 (and will go up to 24 when Thameslink is complete in 2018)
• an enhanced London Underground station makes it easier for passengers to access the tube
• the only station with entrances on both banks of the Thames brings people closer to landmarks such the Tate Modern and St Paul’s Cathedral
• new lifts and escalators give step-free access to all platforms
• over 4,400 photovoltaic panels – enough to cover 23 tennis courts – crown the roof and provide up to 50 per cent of the station’s energy, enough to make almost 80,000 cups of tea a day
• the solar cells will reduce the station’s CO2 emissions by an estimated 511 tonnes per year – equivalent to around 89,000 average car journeys.

While the station was transformed, we worked hard to minimise disruption so that it remains open for the millions of people who use it every day.