Rovacabin Provides â??Invisibleâ?? Modular Extension To Tube Station

If passengers using Leytonstone Tube Station are wondering if the station car-park has fewer spaces these days, they’re not imagining it. The car park has got smaller – because the building is now bigger. 

What might be confusing some people is that the train crew depot extension blends so well into the existing building that it looks like it’s always been there. The extension actually comprises modular ROVACABIN^® units supplied by Harsco Infrastructure (formally SGB). 

Measuring 9 m long by 7.2m wide, the two-storey extension is clad with an outer skin of the same buff brick used to build the existing building. And just like the original structure, the extension features the same red-brick running courses and window surrounds and the green window frames. 

The building extension provides additional offices and locker-space for London Underground staff based at Leytonstone. A modular building system was chosen over traditional construction because of its extremely fast erection time. 

Harsco Infrastructure won the contract via a competitive tender process in which its previous success on a similar project at Greenford proved a deciding factor. 

The building modules were delivered to site on 24^th September 2009 and the installation was completed before the end of November. In addition to the brick skin cladding, Harsco Infrastructure was required to install a pitched roof to match the existing one next door, and also to build a link joining the extension to the original building. 

“London Transport was quite emphatic that it wanted the new extension to look and behave as if it had been part of the original building” says the client’s project manager, Tony Gildea. 

“We knew from previous experience at Greenford that Harsco Infrastructure could meet the demands of this job and match the client’s needs exactly,” adds Mr Gildea. 

After completing the building and fitting it out, Harsco Infrastructure were also asked to install a fire alarm system, which was finished on the 18^th December ready for the official hand-over five days later. 

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