Transport for London has confirmed that there is a new completion date for the transformation work on Old Street, as part of a major project to make access to the station safer and more welcoming.
The creation of new passenger entrances and lifts, as well as an upgraded retail concourse has seen good progress made over the course of the works, however there is a complication in that one requirement of the works was that the station and the road above to remain open and accessible throughout the project. The Covid-19 pandemic also halted work, with the site shutting for three months, and then social distancing measures forcing workers to keep their distance to prevent infection.
Alongside this, there has also been an alteration to the amount of work needing to be done to deliver the changes, with ‘previously unrecorded utilities infrastructure’ being discovered during excavation. One of these bottlenecks came in the form of the complexity of the existing mechanical and electrical systems, with the original entrance being constructed in the 1960’s. Despite these older systems being safe, the equipment that would be needed to connect them to the newer entrances and retail concourse is no longer available. This has led to a need for them to be completely replaced to ensure that they conform with current regulations and standards
Combining the disruption of works with a new change to the scope of the work needed to ensure delivery of the project has led to a revised delivery date of early 2024.
Nick Fairholme, Director of Capital Delivery at TfL, said:
“Our work to transform Old Street will be a huge boost to everyone who travels to the area , making sustainable journeys by public transport and on foot or by bike much safer and easier. We’re working hard to complete the project as quickly as possible and are sorry for the disruption this delay will cause to the people in the area. I’d like to thank everyone in the area for their patience during this work and we’ll continue to work closely with Islington and Hackney Councils, local residents and businesses to ensure everyone can benefit from these changes as soon as possible.”
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