Will Ing visits the new line’s outlying Woolwich station

Woolwich station only has one entrance, and the plan was to build the Elizabeth line upgrade from brick. Brick would reflect its historic neighbours: Grade I and Grade II*-listed buildings that used to be part of the Royal Arsenal.

But the design succumbed to ‘political interference’ – as Rob Naybour, chief executive of Weston Williamson + Partners, puts it. A figure close to a former mayor of London pushed for the station to be more ‘resonant’. Now the 30m-span portal that frames the entrance is clad with 350 cast bronze panels.

Elizabeth line Woolwich station external detail

‘It’s still a contextual material,’ says Julian Robinson, Crossrail’s head of architecture. The bronze is a reference to the Royal Brass Foundry, one of the listed brick buildings which sits at the other side of a small park. The panels also feature a rifling design, a thankfully abstracted reference to the site’s former use as an armaments factory.

‘We wanted a big, clear span for robustness,’ says Naybour. ‘We wanted it to be proud and noticeable.’ This is helped by the absence (apart from some ventilation equipment towards the back) of over-development on the above-ground station structure, due to economic and legal problems. However, it is still debatable how ‘noticeable’ or, indeed, ‘contextual’ or ‘resonant’ the portal is. 

A sizeable amount of the approximately 15 million passengers who will use the station every year may never really see its front face – as the elevation sits perpendicular to the path into Woolwich town centre; and Crossrail is so confident that this is where most passengers will be headed that they didn’t see a need for another station entrance. Nevertheless, it is a tasteful addition to the park frontages, albeit concealing more utilitarian designs within and around the station.

The Royal Arsenal site is now home to thousands of new homes masterplanned by Allies and Morrison and built by Berkeley Group, which donated the Crossrail site and built the station box to boost property prices and justify higher densities. Weston Williamson + Partners, which has had no less than three separate clients on the station project, hopes the project will help link the historic riverside area with the existing town centre. The architects first worked with Berkeley on the box in 2007 before working for Crossrail as a tier two contractor under Atkins and Arup, and then as a tier three contractor under Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald.

Elizabeth line Woolwich station escalators

Crossrail passengers are only slightly more likely to notice the double-height ticket hall inside the station, as there isn’t a whole lot to notice. The space is dissected by ticket machines and features drab, grey-brown brick. A glass roof is held up by long concrete fins, curved in profile, which provide the greatest visual interest in the space.

On entering, the roof appears to undulate, while passengers leaving can view the perforated metal on the back of the fins, which contains acoustic attenuation material. The minimalist approach to station fit-out is not without its benefits, Naybour points out. ‘Transit authorities don’t much love maintaining stations,’ he says. ‘So it’s better off designing them so they don’t need much maintenance.’

Elizabeth line Woolwich platform seating

The station hall gives way to an escalator flanked by two more grey-brown brick walls. A glazed back wall opposite the escalator offers view beyond, although sadly this is only a view of a social housing block which has been built by Berkeley above the platform. Nevertheless, hefty space above the escalators contains almost-sculptural concrete spans and here one begins to feel a tad smaller, shrunken by engineering prowess and the large volume.

The height and breadth of the station’s single platform feel modest: space above the tracks is filled-in with black-clad services, adding to a sense of encroachment. The platform’s length is impressive, though the surroundings do not compare to the Brobdingnagian edifices of central London, whether Victorian and above ground (like King’s Cross) or 1990s and underground (like Westminster tube).

Elizabeth line Woolwich station platform

A row of fat columns, each 6m tall, runs along the middle of the platform. They have been got up as soldiers: buffed brass plating in another nod to the arsenal, plus a tile stripe of regimental colours, described as ‘the Paul Smith approach’ by Naybour.

Anyone venturing around the side of the above-ground station building will find the façade wrapped in brick, but with a perforated metal mural of  ‘Britannia and Lion’, a design used on plaques given to families bereaved in the First World War. Naybour describes the back of the station as ‘quiet architecture’. The building, which is bulkier here due to a large ventilation stack on the roof, does not give much back to the square that it faces.

‘The whole station is not more complicated than it needs to be,’ says Naybour. He adds that his practice pursued ‘a robust architecture’ which reflected the area’s military history through a ‘tough yet simple’ palette of brick, steel and bronze.

The effect is exactly that. Given the station was handed over more than two years before the opening of the Elizabeth line one wonders if it could have afforded a little more complication or decoration. But the project was – according to Naybour – the most cost-effective of the new Crossrail stations. You can tell; but its nevertheless a pleasant new terminus with its own character.

Start on site: Berkeley Homes from 2012 to 2014 (platforms, main box and underground structure), Balfour Beaty from 2014 to 2021 (above-ground structure, competition and fit-out) Completion:  October 2021 Gross internal floor area:  Station box: 256 x 26m Construction cost:  Unavailable Architect:  Weston Williamson + Partners Client:  Crossrail Structural engineer: Arup/Atkins JV (RIBA E-F); Mott MacDonald (RIBA F and blockwork walls construction) M&E consultant: Arup; Mott MacDonald Quantity surveyor:  Balfour Beatty Project manage:  Balfour Beatty Principal designer:  Crossrail Main contractor:  Balfour Beatty CAD software used:  Projectwise, MicroStation Annual CO2 emissions: Unavailable Urban realm: Gillespies/Arup (early stage to RIBA E); Mott MacDonald (RIBA F and construction)

The vision for Woolwich station was for a sensitively designed new station facility, maximising the benefits of its Royal Arsenal heritage setting within the cultural hub of Woolwich, that would also facilitate the growth of the urban precinct.

The station architecture draws upon the military history of the town for inspiration, making reference both to the neighbouring historic buildings with a bold and simple use of brickwork as the primary building material, and integrating military connections and motifs that bed the station into the site. For example, the brick detailing picks up from the surrounding arsenal buildings using brick bond and dimensions that are in common with the listed buildings.

Elizabeth line Woolwich station roof beams

In the ticket hall, natural light is provided via a rooflight system, which is walkable to facilitate access and maintenance. The entire ticket hall soffit is covered with a parallel precast beam system with high-quality clear finish to one side and anodised aluminium acoustic panels on the back, containing a continuous lighting strip. The beams are shaped as a wave to direct the natural light coming in and to give a sense of movement to the space. The commuter experience is enhanced at the entry and exit: where the soffit becomes a clear, soft concrete open space, changing to perforated anodised panels, a combination which creates two friendly atmospheres within one ticket hall.

Integrating the communication systems behind the cladding allows the walls to preserve their clean vertical appearance without the need to expose large objects and conduits. A containment management system at high level houses all electrical, communications and fire systems. Small items of equipment such as CCTV cameras and antennas are carefully positioned within the brick wall to maintain the station entrance’s elegance. Rob Naybour, chief executive officer, Weston Williamson + Partners

Tags Crossrail Elizabeth line infrastructure Weston Williamson Woolwich station

Sign in or Register a new account to join the discussion.

We use cookies to personalize and improve your experience on our site. Visit our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to learn more. You can opt out of some cookies by adjusting your browser settings. More information on how to do this can be found in the cookie policy. By using our site, you agree to our use of cookies.