London Paddington Station
Client: Network Rail
Project Overview
London Paddington Station
Service: Facilities Management
Sector: Heritage & Conservation, Rail
- Approved Contractor: MLG UK Ltd
- Client: Network Rail
- Duration: 1 week
- Work Carried Out: Rope access, reactive roof and slate repair
Scope of Work
Reactive works to the external roof at Paddington Station, carried out by rope access. Repairs included slate work to the roof covering.
- Reactive external roof repairs at a Grade I listed terminus
- Slate repair and replacement
- All access by rope: no scaffold, no MEWP
Systems installed
- Slates: Slate repair and replacement
Challenges & Constraints
Access above a terminus
The roof sits above a live and permanently busy terminus, where conventional access over the concourse is impractical.
Grade I listed roof
Paddington is Grade I listed, and the repairs were to the slate covering of that roof rather than to a modern surface.
Reactive, not planned
The works were reactive, so the repair could not wait on the lead time of designing and erecting access equipment.
Project Execution & Techniques
All access by rope
Every repair was reached by rope access. No scaffold and no MEWP were used.
Slate repair and replacement
Work to the roof covering included slate repair and replacement, matching the existing heritage covering.
Faster to mobilise
Because no access equipment had to be erected first, MLG could get operatives onto the roof quickly for reactive work.
Less disruption below
With nothing built above the concourse, the station underneath was far less disrupted while the repairs were made.
Outcome & Long-Term Benefits
Repairs without access equipment
The roof was repaired without scaffold or platform hire above a live concourse.
Cheaper than erecting access
For a repair of this size, rope access was considerably cheaper than erecting access equipment to reach it.
Heritage covering repaired
The slate covering on a Grade I listed roof was repaired and replaced in kind.
A reactive capability
Network Rail has a contractor able to reach a Grade I listed station roof reactively rather than waiting for an access programme.
Conclusion
Not every roof can be reached the usual way. At Paddington, a Grade I listed terminus with a permanently busy concourse beneath it, erecting scaffold or bringing in a platform for a small reactive repair is slow, disruptive and expensive out of all proportion to the work.
MLG carried out the repairs by rope access instead, including slate repair and replacement to the heritage covering. For Network Rail that means reactive roof work at a listed London terminus can be dealt with quickly, without building access above passengers, and at a fraction of the cost of the alternative.
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