Bristol Temple Meads Station
Access & Protection Deck
Rail, Specialist Scaffold Access Systems, Heritage Access
The grade 1 listed Bristol Temple Meads Station is undergoing extensive renovation. Access is required to all areas of the main train shed roof to carry out refurbishment of steelwork, roofing, cladding, and glazing.
RDG designed an access and protection platform to follow the curvature of the station. The platform is formed of cambered scaffold cassettes consisting of two lines of Asterix HD beams, with clip in end frames and diagonal members. A lateral restraint wire is tied between the spring points, ensuring forces will not be borne by the building perimeter walls. The top chords of the cassettes are connected using 2.57m clip in decks. Due to the curvature of the station plan, some of the infill areas between the cassettes are not standard 2.57m bays. The tapered bays are infilled with tube and fitting scaffolding.
Plywood and profiled metal decking are overlaid onto the platform acting as a membrane tying together the top chords. Scaffold towers are to be erected on top of the platform to provide access to the varying heights of the roof structure.
RDG was commissioned to design mobile access to facilitate the installation of the canopy steel along the length of all four platforms. A track-mounted independent was designed, with a GRP membrane to protect operatives from passing trains. The track and bogie system was bolted into the concrete platform at given centres to mitigate against overturning from wind loading and wind buffeting. The solution ensured simultaneous construction works remained unobstructed and the railway remained operational.
The platform is supported off scaffold towers and perpendicular header beams positioned along the length of the train shed. Due to the inconsistencies and unknowns of the existing platforms at project commencement, loadings onto the platforms were kept to a minimum by checking against the proposed method and sequencing of works above the cambered platform.
Additional scaffold structures are also constructed to the external sides of the gable end and additional areas within the station.
