Paddington Station Roof

Paddington Project

Being completed in 1838 and now having over 60million passengers through the station every year, Paddington station is a very important hub in rail. In recent years the roof has had a substantial loss of light transmission down to 18% causing a lack of visibility in a thriving setting. The underside of the glazing sheet was discoloured by diesel exhaust contamination and also the external had weathered 23 years’ worth of west end environment. Leaks were becoming apparent due to failed gaskets on the glazing bars.

Challenge

TBS needed to come up with a product that was in accordance with all the safety and fire regulations and also would be easy for installation by the Morgan Sindall team to get the light transmission in the station back up again. There were also other factors such as the time when materials could be delivered to create no disturbance to the daily running of the station which we had to work around.

Solution

The chosen product was Brett Martins Longlife Twinwall Polycarbonate sheet which we coupled together with Exitex’s Capex 70 bar to create a completely watertight system and improved light transmission up to 79% on the station. The bars were pre-drilled every 200mm to create a simple ready to fix down solution and we also came up with all the stainless fixings and gasket to finish it off.