Laing O'Rourke and Costain win £300m Bond Street job

A consortium of Laing O’Rourke and Costain has been awarded the £300m contract to redevelop Bond Street tube station for Transport for London.

TfL said in a statement that construction of the station, seen as vital in preparing the way for the planned adjacent Crossrail station, will start next year, with completion slated for 2017. Crossrail and the planned increase in Jubilee Line capacity is set to increase the daily passenger numbers using the station from 155,000 to 225,000.

The Laing/Costain joint venture had been widely expected to beat off competition from Balfour Beatty and the Vinci/Bam Nuttall joint venture which recently won both the Tottenham Court Road and Victoria Station upgrades.

TfL said the development would deliver a dramatic increase in station capacity along with anew entrance and ticket hall north of Oxford Street to increase capacity and provide step-free access to both the Central and Jubilee lines. It will also contain new escalators and an additional access route to the Jubilee line to reduce congestion,improved interchange between the Central and Jubilee lines, and step-free access to the new Crossrail station.

The awarding of the contract will give greater confidence that the redevelopment, which has been subject to continued rumours it may be scaled back or scrapped following the spending review, will go ahead.

Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London’s transport advisor, said: “This station emphasises the need for progress to be maintained on both upgrading the Tube and building Crossrail. London is the heartbeat of the UK and upgrades like this are vital to long-term job creation and economic growth around the whole of the country.”

David Waboso, Capital Programmes Director for London Underground said: “This redevelopment is essential to ensure the station can accommodate the large increase in passengers that will use the station. Work will shortly get underway to increase the station’s capacity by creating a new entrance and ticket hall on the north side of Oxford Street and installing additional escalators and passageways below ground. In addition, the station will be made accessible, with step-free access from the street to all platforms and interchanges.”

Separate contracts will be let by Crossrail for the construction of the new Crossrail stations at Davies Street and Hanover Square which will connect to Bond Street Tube station.