A new lease of life for London’s historic railway arches at Borough Yards

The restoration and regeneration of Central London’s Victorian railway system will see up to 8,500m2 of railway arches repurposed into a contemporary retail and leisure scheme as part of the redevelopment of Borough Yards, which is due for completion at the end of 2020.

Located in Southwark, Central London, the Borough Yards redevelopment scheme will transform the Victorian brick railway viaducts into raw-brick, cathedral-like retail and leisure spaces, once complete. EGGER OSB HDX has been specified as mezzanine flooringThe design includes a mezzanine level throughout the archways of the viaductinside the arches, maximising the retail space on offer to the customer, Meyer Bergman European Retail Partners II.

Specialist Structural Contractors, LA Metalworks Ltd developed a hybrid structural steel and cold Rolled Steel Joist system (RSJ) to create a platform throughout the network of arches in the railway viaduct. EGGER OSB HDX structural flooring boards were proposed by LA Metalworks to the design team as part of their early engagement of the scheme for use on the project to create mezzanine flooring platforms on the RSJ throughout the arches. This was due to their knowledge of the product capabilities and lightweight handling.

3D BIM mModels were used by LA Metalworks throughout the design and planning stages of in order to the accurately specify, as well as visualise, the RSJ’s of within the viaduct, which features a complex labyrinth of Victorian-engineered brick arches, all varying which vary in size and stature. By downloading EGGER’s OSB HDX BIM Object, available on a number of BIM product librariesthe National BIM Library and bBimstore, the technical properties of the board was could be downloaded directly into the digital specification of the project

A lighter, stronger alternative to 38mm chipboard

Choosing EGGER’s OSB HDX boards were specified asfor the timber mezzanine flooring on the steel structures. EGGER OSB HDX flooring boards provided has provided the contractor with a highly robust structural flooring to work with. This OSBthat is able to withstand heavy loads, while being around 20 per cent lighter than standard 38mm P6 chipboard.

Paul Donovan, Senior Contracts Manager, LA Metalworks Ltd said:

With the site situated in Central London, storage space on site was almost non-existent and the practicability of manoeuvring boards around the narrow arches had to be considered. EGGER OSB HDX boards were delivered direct to site in packs as-and-when needed and were ready to use. As the boards were so light, they were easy to handle onsite, move from arch-to-arch and once lifted to the height of the steel frame, were easy to fit.”

EGGER OSB HDX is the ideal board for sites such as Borough Yardsheavy load bearing environments, such as mezzanine flooring. With its higher point loads and UDLs, the strength and stiffness of the boards are designed to take higher loads. Furthermore, it requires, and uses fewer joists, providing the opportunity for significant savings.

For more information on EGGER OSB HDX, please visit www.egger.com/hdx. To download EGGER OSB HDX as a BIM object direct to your digital specification, please visit www.egger.com/bim for more information.