With a new look, new name and greater role, St Pancras International has Senior Hargreaves’ ductwork to ventilate it and Nu-way burners to keep travellers warm while they wait for journeys to start.
On November 14, the Eurostar terminal launched high speed services from St Pancras International to Paris. Providing ventilation and fire control for St Pancras International station and the tunnels on High Speed 1 (HS1) rail, proved an engineering challenge for Senior Hargreaves.
Space limitations required the train-side facilities to be installed below the platform level but luckily the Victorian engineers left large voids beneath the platforms for storing beer transported by rail from the Midlands.
This void under the platforms was used to place security, customs offices, shops and other customer facilities. To ventilate these below platform areas and ensure emergency smoke removal, Senior Hargreaves installed a network of above ceiling ductwork. This is connected by vertical ducts to the main extract ducts located in voids under the floor. In a fire, Senior Hargreaves' ductwork construction allows smoke and hot gasses to be transported safely out of the building without fume leakage or premature collapse. This increases the window of time for the emergency services to organise safe evacuation.
A different approach was needed to ventilate the three double bore tunnels on HS1, the line connecting St Pancras to Ebfleet International station in Kent. The two deep double bore underground tunnels are ventilated by vertical shafts which house heavy duty, fire resistant ductwork with powerful high speed reversible fans provided by ventilation firm Flakt Woods. These shafts can inject fresh air into the tunnels or extract stale air. If there is a fire, the shafts can be used to extract smoke or fumes close to the source. They can also introduce fresh air remotely to give airflow or pressurisation to protect passenger escape routes.
For the double bore tunnel running under the River Thames, the installation of shafts was impractical. Instead a bank of Flakt Wood fans at tunnel entrances introduce air at high speed through a slot in the roof of the tunnel. In an emergency, the alternative adjoining tunnel becomes the escape route and Flakt Woods' fans provide pressurisation to take away smoke and fumes from this area.
Droitwich-based combustion specialist Nu-way supplied burner equipment to St Pancras.
Three Nu-way XGN 3000 modulating burners and a (GB540/3) gas booster were installed at the railway station.
The burners are fitted into three Hartley & Sugden SCP750 Class 1 natural gas boilers. They provide space heating and hot water services for the station to ensure travellers arrive and depart in comfort.