Oxford Station
Client: Great Western Railway
Project Overview
Oxford Station
Six toilets
Service: Commercial & Retail Refurbishment
Sector: Rail
- Approved Contractor: MLG UK Ltd
- System Installed: Wallgate anti-vandal sanitaryware
- Client: Great Western Railway
- Duration: Six months, phased
- Work Carried Out: Strip-out, studwork and IPS frameworks, full-height tiling, anti-vandal sanitaryware, cubicles, decoration
Scope of Work
- All six public and staff toilets refurbished
- Complete strip back to bare walls, then new studwork and IPS frameworks to form the new layouts
- Floor-to-ceiling tiling throughout for a clean, durable, easily cleaned finish
- Wallgate anti-vandal sanitaryware: specified for a public station environment
- New cubicles supplied by Cubicle Works
- Phased over six months to keep facilities available to passengers throughout
Systems installed
- Sanitaryware: Anti-vandal toilet fittings (Wallgate)
- Cubicles: New cubicles throughout (Cubicle Works)
- Framework: New studwork and IPS frameworks forming the new layouts
- Wall finishes: Floor-to-ceiling tiling to every toilet
Challenges & Constraints
None could close together
Six toilets in a busy public station, all of them needed, and none of them able to close at the same time.
Heavy use and abuse
Station toilets take heavy use and heavy abuse, which is a different specification problem from a commercial washroom.
Domestic fittings come back
A refurbishment that specifies domestic-grade fittings is a refurbishment that comes back as a maintenance problem within a year.
Project Execution & Techniques
Phased over six months
The programme was phased across six months so facilities stayed open elsewhere in the station while individual blocks were closed and rebuilt.
Back to bare walls
Each toilet was stripped back to bare walls, then new studwork and IPS frameworks were built to form the new layouts.
Specified for abuse
Wallgate anti-vandal sanitaryware was specified for a public station environment, with new cubicles supplied by Cubicle Works.
Floor-to-ceiling tiling
Tiling was taken floor to ceiling throughout, for a finish that is durable and easily cleaned.
Outcome & Long-Term Benefits
Facilities never lost
Passengers kept access to toilets across the station for the whole six-month programme.
Six rebuilt blocks
All six public and staff toilets were rebuilt and returned to daily public use.
Maintenance made simple
IPS frameworks with removable duct panels mean the things most likely to be damaged are the easiest to replace, without breaking into finishes.
Specified for the environment
The fittings were chosen for the environment rather than the budget line, so the washrooms are specified to survive a station rather than to look good on handover.
Conclusion
Great Western Railway needed all six public and staff toilets at Oxford Station refurbished, and could not lose the station’s facilities while it happened. MLG phased the work across six months so blocks were closed and rebuilt one at a time.
Each toilet went back to bare walls, then new studwork and IPS frameworks, floor-to-ceiling tiling, Cubicle Works cubicles and Wallgate anti-vandal sanitaryware. The specification answers the real problem in a station washroom: the fittings most likely to be damaged are anti-vandal, and the duct panels come off without breaking into finishes when something does need replacing. It was delivered for GWR alongside the Oxford overbridge upgrade, a separate job on the same station.
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