Stockwell Substation, London, UK

Project Overview

The London Underground’s Northern Line initiated a power upgrade project in 2018 to enhance infrastructure, reliability, and power capacity. Dura Composites, a leading GRP product provider, supplied non-conductive access platforms for safe maintenance.

Non-conductive access platforms to enable safe access.

Power upgrade works on the Northern Line began in 2018 to address poor asset condition, provide additional service resilience and enhance network power capacity for service increases on the sub-surface lines of the London Underground. The programme has included replacement of life-expired coupling transformers at Stockwell substation and upgrades to the high voltage network between Stockwell and Clapham Common substations, in a project led by contractor Balfour Beatty.

As a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of Glass Reinforced Polymer structural products for industry, Dura Composites was chosen to supply two non-conductive access platforms to enable safe access to the transformer areas for qualified maintenance personnel.We have extensive experience in the provision of GRP solutions for the rail and energy sectors, including Machine Access, Gantries, Stepovers and Ladders.

Our latest d² range of products deploys unique patented designs and innovative technology to deliver the safest, most cost-effective and durable solutions on the market. In this case, GRP was chosen for its dielectric properties (due to the proximity to electrical equipment) as well as for its ease of workability on site. Our extensive investment in the latest manufacturing technologies mean that all the Dura Profile sections used exceed the E23 grade, delivering superior performance. The GRP Dura Grating floor surface also provides exceptional anti-slip properties and drainage in all weathers.

This was a challenging and interesting project to be involved in and one which required some ingenuity in design from our CAD team. Being able to sub-assemble the fabrication at our Dura Fabrication Centre in East Anglia meant real time and labour saving benefits for the project, as well as the ability to ensure that the resulting structures would meet the needs of these demanding electrified environments.

Martin Strawford

Rail Sales Technical Solutions Manager at Dura Composites

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