Earl’s Court – Protection Deck Dismantlement
Following a program of more than two years, operatives from SGB Project Services working under the management and logistic planning of Balfour Beatty Management worked a series of night shifts to dismantle the extensive access deck supplied to London Underground during the refurbishment of Earl’s Court station roof. The improvements at the station are part of a major programme that will see improvements in trains, signalling, track, tunnels and bridges, as well as tube stations across the network.
To protect the public while the works were undertaken Balfour Beatty Management instructed SGB to supply and build a 3000m2, 300 tonne protection deck . This involved building towers on the platforms on which heavy I-beams were placed by engineering trains and on those scaffolding and deck sheeting was erected. This created an enclosed safe working environment in which our contractors could carry out work above the bustling platforms, track and station concourse.
The deck required PA speakers, CCTV cameras and fire protection systems to be temporarily relocated beneath the deck. To maintain the required lux levels on the platforms we had to install around 250 temporary lights.
The work to remove the protection deck required meticulous logistical planning by the Balfour Beatty Management project team to meet hand-over deadlines. Using special rail-mounted cranes,(Supplied by Tube Lines) our contractors have now dismantled and removed the Protection deck from site.
In the long term, we all have to do something different. We must challenge our current working practices, our ownership of health and safety and how each one of us can contribute towards making what we do safer - Zero Harm
