Brent Cross West is a new station developed by Network Rail, the owner, operator and infrastructure manager of the main railway network of Britain, to serve the people of Brent Cross and the northern parts of Cricklewood and Dollis Hill areas of North London, UK.
The project was a part of the Brent Cross West Thameslink programme, which also includes the development of a waste transfer station serving Barnet and Camden, replacement of a strategic freight facility, relocation of railway sidings, and construction of supporting infrastructure for drivers and pedestrians.
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The station is the final component of the Thameslink sub-phase of the £4.5bn ($5.64bn) Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration project, which delivers a mixed-use town centre for Barnet, including more than 7,500 new homes, three million square feet of workspace, schools, and health facilities.
A joint venture between Barnet Council and Argent Related is responsible for the Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration programme.
The planning approval for the new station development was awarded by Barnet Council’s Planning Committee in May 2020.
Most of the work along with a range of safety and technical tests at Brent Cross West station was completed in June 2023 and it was opened in December 2023.
The Brent Cross West programme provides connections between Brent Cross Cricklewood and central London and beyond.
Location
Brent Cross West was built on the Midland Main Line between Hendon and Cricklewood stations. The station has direct connections to Brighton, Luton, and Gatwick airports.
It is less than 15 minutes from central London’s Kings Cross St Pancras Station, a key transport hub with rail connections to Europe via Eurostar high-speed rail services.
Brent Cross West station details
The project involved the construction of a new four-platform station, occupying an area of 7,000ft2, reconfiguration of tracks, and delivering new modern railway sidings.
The station serves as a gateway to Brent Cross Town, a new park town in North London, with trains from central London reaching it within 12 minutes.
Furthermore, it provides new transport options for people residing in Brent Cross.
The Brent Cross West station is the first mainline station outside of Central London to be equipped with platform humps.
The humps provide level boarding points on to the floor height of the trains while enabling step-free access from street level to the platforms.
The station design creates a modern and functionally optimal station.
It has up to eight stopping services per peak hour while each of the platforms with 250m of length, can accommodate 12-carriage trains.
A covered pedestrian overbridge was also constructed as part of the Brent Cross West programme to provide a new route for pedestrians and cyclists across the Midland Main Line.
Passengers can board a train at the station to reach Farringdon for Elizabeth Line services (formerly Crossrail), a railway for London and the south-east, in approximately 18 minutes.
Brent Cross West station’s eastern entrance details
The new eastern entrance to the station received planning consent from Barnet Council in December 2020. It was designed with sustainable features, timber frames, and biodiversity.
The light and airy design of the station entrance includes a roof canopy of glazed panels resting on timber columns.
Environmental elements of the design included the planting of vines connected to planters on the ground floor by a wire trellis system and the erection of ornamental trees in the entranceway.
Connecting the new station to Brent Cross Town, the eastern entrance building includes parking space for 68 bicycles, two lifts and escalators up to the new overbridge at the station.
Funding
The new station and related rail works were funded by a £419m government agreement.
Barnet Council secured the funding through collaboration with Central Government partners, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, HM Treasury, and the Greater London Authority.
Contractors involved
VolkerFitzpatrick, a civil engineering company, was awarded a contract to construct the Brent Cross West station in December 2019. The company served as the principal contractor for the project.
VolkerFitzpatrick engaged the services of Adept for the management of the design, supply, and installation of several elements.
Adept’s responsibilities included passive fire protection measures, structural framing systems, partition walls & ceilings, custom architectural metal flashings, and both external and internal cladding.
Oliver Connell & Son, a construction company, was selected by VolkerFitzpatrick to deliver structures for the project.
WSP, an environmental consulting company, was selected to deliver a multidisciplinary design of the station in June 2020.
The company’s Rail Stations team collaborated with Chapman Taylor, an architecture and master-planning company, to provide the project design.
Global consultancy and construction company Mace was awarded a contract to provide project management services for the new station development in August 2020.
Architectural company Studio Egret West developed the design for the new eastern entrance of the station. The project was completed in collaboration with shedkm, Heyne Tillett Steel, Atelier Ten, Gillespies, OFR and FMDC.
GL Hearn, a property consultancy services provider, was appointed by the London Borough of Barnet to conduct public consultation for the station project.
It provided planning advice as part of the Brent Cross Cricklewood scheme.
Network Rail appointed Amey, an engineering company, to undertake the design of various infrastructure components for the station, including the relocation of railway sidings to accommodate the construction of the new station.
Amey’s scope of work also included the design of three relocatable equipment buildings, a tarmac road, routes for signalling and telecommunications cables, an autotransformer feeder route, siding and mainline signals, driver walkways, and an overhead line equipment switch walkway.
Other contractors involved in the Brent Cross West station project were Gardiner & Theobald, and Faithful + Gould.
