FOI request detail

Upgrade refurbishment and construction duration

Request ID: FOI-0036-2223
Date published: 06 May 2022

You asked

To Whom It May Concern, How long did the recent construction/refurbishment of the different stations take related to step-free access and other upgrades take? The stations I am interested in are: Acton Town, Amersham, Bank and Monument, Bond Street, Coston Manor, Brent Cross, Bromley-by-Bow, Buckhurst Hill, Burnt Oak, Cockfosters, Colindale, Debden, Finsbury Park, Greenford, Hanger Lane, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Ickenham, Knightsbridge, Mill Hill East, Moorgate, Newbury Park, North Ealing, Northolt, Osterley, Park Royal, Rickmansworth, Ruislip, Snaresbrook, South Kensington, South Woodford, Sudbury Hill, Tottenham Court Road, Tottenham Hale, West Brompton, Wimbledon Park, Vauxhall, Victoria. I understand not all information is easily available to fit within £450 budget, so whatever station information you have will do as examples. Thank you very much.

We answered

TfL Ref: 0036-2223
 
Thank you for your email received by us on 6 April 2022 asking for information about step-free access (SFA) stations and upgrades.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.  You asked:

How long did the recent construction/refurbishment of the different stations take related to step-free access and other upgrades take?

The stations I am interested in are:

Acton Town,

Amersham,

Bank and Monument,

Bond Street,

Boston Manor,

Brent Cross,

Bromley-by-Bow,

Buckhurst Hill,

Burnt Oak,

Cockfosters,

Colindale,

Debden,

Finsbury Park,

Greenford,

Hanger Lane,

Harrow-on-the-Hill,

Ickenham,

Knightsbridge,

Mill Hill East,

Moorgate,

Newbury Park,

North Ealing,

Northolt,

Osterley,

Park Royal,

Rickmansworth,

Ruislip,

Snaresbrook,

South Kensington,

South Woodford,

Sudbury Hill,

Tottenham Court Road,

Tottenham Hale,

West Brompton,

Wimbledon Park,

Vauxhall,

Victoria.

I understand not all information is easily available to fit within £450 budget, so whatever station information you have will do as examples.

As mentioned in your request, to locate this information for every station listed above would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Please note under the FOIA, an authority is not obliged to try and guess which information would be of most importance to an individual and then try to provide a response within the appropriate limit, we are only obligated to consider a request for information as a whole under the conditions of the Act.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described. However, it is possible to provide a good indication of the information you have asked for, by categorising the stations of interest below, and providing what we hold accordingly by example of each category:
 
Stations  Category  Note 
Bond Street, 
Tottenham Court Road,  
Victoria, 
Moorgate, 
Larger congestion relief schemes with a step-free access (SFA) element   It is not possible to ‘unpick’ the SFA element from the wider congestion relief scheme  
Bromley-by-Bow,  
Finsbury Park,  
Tottenham Hale,  
Vauxhall,  
Medium congestion relief schemes with SFA element  It is not possible to ‘unpick’ the SFA element from the wider congestion relief scheme 
Acton Town –(Station features SFA, although not installed in the most recent SFA programme),
Amersham, 
Buckhurst Hill,  
Cockfosters,  
Debden,  
Harrow-on-the-Hill,  
Ickenham,  
Mill Hill East 
Newbury Park,  
Osterley, 
South Woodford,  
Sudbury Hill, 
Wimbledon Park, 
Schemes from the SFA programme (smaller schemes that purely delivered step-free access) 
 
These are smaller schemes that purely delivered step-free access.  
Bank/Monument,  
Boston Manor, 
Brent Cross,  
Burnt Oak,  
Colindale,  
Hanger Lane,  
Knightsbridge,  
North Ealing,  
Northolt,  
Park Royal,  
Rickmansworth,  
Ruislip,  
Snaresbrook,  
South Kensington,  
West Brompton,  
Not step-free and therefore it is not possible provide the information requested  As these stations are not step-free it is not possible provide the information requested. 

  
Larger congestion relief schemes with a step-free access (SFA) element 
 
Example station: Victoria 
 
The high-level indicative timescales were as follows: 
 
  • Undertaking feasibility and design development from 2004.  
 
  • Undertaking detailed design and securing Transport & Works Act Powers from  2007-2009. 
 
  • Procuring contractor and undertaking surveys and enabling works from  2008-2012. 
 
  • Undertaking main works on site from 2012-2018. 
 
Please note that the last of these lifts were brought into service in 2017. 
 
Medium congestion relief schemes with SFA element 
 
Example station: Bromley-By-Bow 
 
  • Work began on site during Summer 2016.
  
  • SFA element completed in March 2018.   
 
  • Ticket Hall works completed (refurbishment and expansion) in December 2020. 
 
Schemes from the SFA programme  
 
Schemes on this programme varied greatly in terms of complexity. 
 
For instance, Buckhurst Hill was one of the simpler projects in the SFA programme and the first station on the programme to be made step-free. Step-free status was achieved by bringing disused ramps at the south side of the station into use. Site works began in late 2017 and were complete in March 2018.  
 
Cockfosters Station - The scheme delivered one lift from street level to the Ticket Hall. The project was more complex than originally thought as a result of unforeseen site conditions. Works started on site mid-2019 and were completed during October 2020. 
 
Osterley Station - The scheme delivered two lifts. As with other sites on the programme, preliminary works were required here before heavy works could start on site. Initial works on site started in mid-2019 and were completed in October 2021.  
 
Harrow-on-the-Hill Station - This was a very complex project with four lifts installed and various station systems upgraded. Limited space made the piling operation complex and many tons of material were broken out and removed from site. Site works had started in early 2019 and the lifts were brought into use during March 2022. 


If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely


Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
 

Back to top

Want to make a request?

We'll email you the response within 20 working days.


We'll publish the response online without disclosing any personal information.