Turning the 150-year old crumbling St Pancras station into a state of the art international rail terminal for CTRL is a painstaking task involving a combination of careful renovation of parts of the original building fabric and complete new build in other areas.

D-Drill (Master Drillers) Ltd, sub-contracted to Gunform International, has played a role in the redevelopment that will transform St Pancras into a major transport hub linked to the Channel Tunnel with 13 platforms, three dedicated to the 300km/h Eurostar trains that will directly serve Paris and Brussels.

Specialist concrete drillers D-Drill were sub-contracted to carry out work to existing concrete piles. The company undertook drilling and grouting and installing steel dowels to provide support for sprayed concrete. 

The work had to be carried out at various heights, in some cases approximately five metres from ground level, requiring most stringent adherence to health and safety procedures.

In line with its customary rigorous H&S policy, D-Drill arranged specialist training for all operatives engaged on this project relating to powered access work in order to be able to proceed without supervision.

John Barber of D-Drill (Master Drillers) Ltd comments: “The work undertaken was of a difficult nature due to other activities in the immediate vicinity and required considerable attention to detail and close liaison with on site safety & management personnel. The works were successfully carried out over an 18 month period to the complete satisfaction of all involved.”