Rotherham Interchange

OVERVIEW

Our Building Services division was appointed by Interserve to deliver the full design and installation of all mechanical and electrical services as part of the £12 million refurbishment of Rotherham Interchange for South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.

Some 17m people a year travel through the interchange and they will now benefit from improved services making for a more modern and enjoyable customer experience.

Of the £1.5 million contract, two-thirds was dedicated to electrical works and the remaining third for mechanical services.

CHALLENGE

This was an extremely detailed and labour-intensive building services project from the outset. Initially we had to remove fire-damaged ductwork that contained harmful soot. This required extreme care following high-level health and safety guidelines and saw us operating in a similar manner to if we were handling industrial asbestos.

This included use of full face masks with respirators and filters, full overalls, segregation to other services and ductwork being blanked off at either end from the outset.

We were presented with a significant challenge due to the service void being in a very confined space – to such an extent that the external cladding was temporarily removed.

Given this, the need to carry out the installation efficiently was paramount and required the delivery of equipment and its installation to be accurately scheduled and managed ensuring the correct personnel were present and fully briefed to work immediately.

SOLUTION

The refurbishment project saw the existing integrated system retained which meant we had to keep all services running while updating and adding new interfaces and updating main panels. Three full night time closures were carried out. Two shift closures – from midnight to 5am – were needed during the refurbishment programme to allow us to deliver the work.

We managed the entire process from submitting a full risk assessment and method statements in order to obtain permission from South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive to delivering the work through the early hours of the morning and ensuring the interchange was operational again on time.

The third closure was for witness testing to be carried out by the consultant, Arup, to fully check all emergency systems.

RESULTS

The scheme was particularly intensive from an electrical perspective with 30 engineers on-site delivering a wide range of systems: lighting, lighting control, CCTV, power, main LV distribution, lightning protection, fire, security, Disabled Refuge, voice alarms and a public address system.

Data, electric vehicle charging points, car park equipment, ticket machines, barriers, a people counting system and passenger information displays were also installed. In total, over 10km of electric cables were used.

Mechanically, domestic water services, fume extract ventilation, supply ventilation to concourses, BMS controls for mechanical plant and heating were designed and fitted.