TfL seeks bidders for Elephant & Castle station upgrade

TfL is inviting construction companies to apply for work on the upgrade of the Elephant & Castle tube station, which will involve a new station entrance for the Northern line, with provision for the Bakerloo line in the future.

Provisional design for the new ticket hall (c) Delancey/TfL

In a public notice, TfL said that it is undertaking a pre-procurement market engagement exercise to “raise market awareness of the potential opportunities associated with the Elephant & Castle Station Capacity Upgrade (ECSCU) procurement and to gauge the market appetite, capacity and capability and the general level of interest in this opportunity.”

The project will see a large station entrance box being built by Delancey, the developer of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre site above the new station entrance. For its part, TfL, using existing 3rd-party funding commitments will construct the connecting tunnels linking Delancey’s new station entrance box to the Northern line platforms.

At the moment, funding is available for the construction of the structure, but there’s a funding gap to fit out the station entrance and open it to the public. A recent agreement to change some of the terms of the agreement with Delancey has however ensured that the entrance will be built, if not necessarily fitted out until to a later date.

The pre-procurement market engagement being carried out by TfL at the moment is to discuss the plans with potential contractors and be open to suggestions about potential changes that may make it better or cheaper to deliver.

Potential bidders for the contracts will be invited to discussions with TfL later this month.

When the new entrance opens, it will replace the existing Northern line ticket hall and will also include space for three more escalators to be added later down to the Bakerloo line extension, when that is eventually built.

3D plan of proposed station (c) Delancey/TfL