Work at Putney continues to the accelerated programme which has reduced the overall programme by a number of months. This has been achieved through hard work and a dedicated workforce, including the support of key subcontractors and work continues 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The temporary bridge which was erected a year ago is due to be removed during February during a major disruptive possession, the only opportunity available to the project for some time. This has seen further programme re-sequencing which has resulted in the team beating the Accelerated Programme by a significant margin.
All concreting works have now been completed and the falsework is being removed from the new concourse structure. The next critical phase of works will see the new permanent staircases erected and diversion of public access to these staircases, which will allow us to complete the new structure and remove the temporary bridge.
Another significant milestone was achieved this week with the start of the new 10 car trains, where we handed back all platforms to SSWT at 5am on Monday morning. A significant effort was required to complete the new concourse structure and remove the temporary works from the platform, transforming the area back to public use.
This project has also included exemplary stakeholder communication with 15 resident mailouts (each to 1,700 households) along with three local drop-in sessions. The team also had a number of meetings with the Putney Society – an amenity charity which promotes the enhancement and protection of the built environment and open spaces such as parks and commons, transport and community services.
One area of concern identified from our stakeholder engagement was the preservation of the Lady Valentine’s Boats – two flowerbed boats which have resided between platforms two and three at Putney Station since 2009.
As a result, the two boats were lifted out and transported to safe storage at Imperial College, in South Kensington, where they will lie until works at the station are completed when they will be returned and planted up again. As a result of our community liaison, the story and the project received positive coverage in the Wandsworth Guardian.
Some initiatives employed by Spencer Rail to gain efficiencies for the project include:
- • Change in design, from structural steelwork as proposed by Network Rail to in-situ concrete – fewer disruptive possessions and on-track plant have been required
- • Moving the position of the temporary footbridge – reduced platform impact and hence the amount of night work required
- • Pro-active use of letter-drops to local residents to minimise complaints arising
- • Use of additional resources to mitigate delays arising from lack of access
- • Working additional shifts to mitigate delays – our delay analysis shows that these two measures are more efficient than using the additional time caused by the delays
