The Arch Company – 11kv Secondary substation design. Brixton Triangle, Brixton Station Road/Atlantic Road, London.
Working within a composite design team, Ingenious were responsible for the design of a new internal substation and associated LV network to serve a commercial development of railway arches within Brixton’s busy and vibrant cultural centre. The substation was designed for adoption by UKPN, the incumbent DNO.
This project had multiple stakeholders, including Network Rail (NR), the Train Operating Company (TOC), Market Associations and local community groups, each with their own specific requirements. The property, part of the Network Rail (NR) portfolio before being transferred to The Arch Company, required significant input from the NR engineering team given the proximity of the installation to an operational railway.
The space limitations and engineering requirements added additional processes and tiers of approval. Both NR and UKPN had very specific requirements and as such the engagement process proved critical to the production of an approved design. One of the most challenging aspects of this design was the ventilation arrangements. The final solution required the installation of a duct through an aperture created within an operational station platform terminating after penetrating the station’s canopy. Unable to transfer any load onto the station structure, the design of this ventilation system required in depth discussions and numerous iterations to meet NR’s standards and UKPN’s G81 adoption requirements, a challenge indeed. Our ability to manage expectations and find workable solutions which suited all parties was an important balancing act, and went far beyond the electrical engineering skills our team possess – it required our best diplomacy skills to keep the project moving forward, especially when there seemed no mutually agreeable position was in sight.
Through perseverance, dogged determination and engineering savvy, we produced a design which UKPN approved. This project demonstrated our ability to provide engineering solutions in difficult circumstances, finding solutions to complex engineering considerations working with numerous engineers from different stakeholder groups across multiple standards.
This substation was constructed and energised April 2021 with the project completing July 2021, powering the regeneration of an important cultural hub for many years to come, encouraging more visitors and boosting the local economy.