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Well - this is my first attempt to cut and paste a Word doc into a post so hope it works!
This is a cause very close to my heart, and I recommend the report to all interested in heritage issues. Written and compiled by SAVE Secretary Adam Wilkinson (with a heap of encouragement from me!).
PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
Embargoed 0100 Friday 3rd March 2006
PADDINGTON STATION’S SPAN FOUR MUST STAY
SAVE’s latest report, launched today, strongly challenges Network Rail’s proposals to demolish Span Four at Paddington Station, the Great Western Railway’s dramatic Edwardian Trainshed. If demolished, Span Four would be the largest Grade I listed structure to have been destroyed since listing began in 1945.
Network Rail plans to replace Span Four with an office block sitting on a deck above the tracks.
Constructed between 1913 and 1916, Span Four is an extension of Brunel’s station, carried out in the same style to create a unified and harmonious roof structure. Since 1993, this magnificent structure has been concealed by a crash deck. It is the work of WY Armstrong, an engineer in the mould of Brunel, who designed viaducts in Cornwall and the entire Chiltern line and held the post of New Works Engineer for the Great Western Railway.
SAVE strongly disputes the reasons advanced for the demolition of Span Four. Network rail claim that it has to be demolished to increase capacity at the station. The SAVE report argues that the construction of through platforms alongside the station for Crossrail will increase the flow of trains through the station, relieving pressure on other platforms. In addition recent and ongoing timetable reorganisation and better platform use by First Great Western will increase capacity markedly, and extra platforms could be created without destroying Span Four.
Adam Wilkinson, Secretary of SAVE, said “Network Rail’s plans to demolish Span Four and replace it with an office block are based on assumptions that are out of date or irrelevant. As is pointed out in the Strategic Rail Authority’s Route Utilisation strategy, no matter how much capacity at the station is increased, it is pointless if the rest of the network cannot handle it. Restored and adapted, Span Four will reinforce Paddington Station’s rightful place as one of the finest railway termini in the world, while providing capacity for the future expansion of network capacity”
Respected structural engineer James Sutherland said “Span Four is not a pastiche. It is the last of the great nineteenth century stations, admirably showing respect of something that is already there. In practice it is slightly better than Brunel’s spans. No one, for example, says that Brunel’s Maidenhead bridge is a pastiche, but none of the original brickwork is visible and the later brickwork is better”
Marcus Binney, President of SAVE said “It will be a tragedy if demolition is approved in 2006, the 200th anniversary of Brunel’s birth. Span Four is an extraordinarily well judged structure, which holds its own yet does not overwhelm Brunel’s work: the pictures in this report show that it formed a breathtaking perspective, more focussed than Brunel’s roofs.”
“Save Paddington’s Span Four: This Engineering Marvel Must Stay” is available from SAVE Britain’s Heritage, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ priced £4. The report also includes a number of historic pictures of Span Four, showing the elegance of Armstrong’s work.
ENDS
Contact
Adam Wilkinson SAVE Britain’s Heritage http://www.savebritainsheritage.org
tel 020 7253 3500 save@btinternet.com
http://www.savebritainsheritage.org
This is a cause very close to my heart, and I recommend the report to all interested in heritage issues. Written and compiled by SAVE Secretary Adam Wilkinson (with a heap of encouragement from me!).
PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
Embargoed 0100 Friday 3rd March 2006
PADDINGTON STATION’S SPAN FOUR MUST STAY
SAVE’s latest report, launched today, strongly challenges Network Rail’s proposals to demolish Span Four at Paddington Station, the Great Western Railway’s dramatic Edwardian Trainshed. If demolished, Span Four would be the largest Grade I listed structure to have been destroyed since listing began in 1945.
Network Rail plans to replace Span Four with an office block sitting on a deck above the tracks.
Constructed between 1913 and 1916, Span Four is an extension of Brunel’s station, carried out in the same style to create a unified and harmonious roof structure. Since 1993, this magnificent structure has been concealed by a crash deck. It is the work of WY Armstrong, an engineer in the mould of Brunel, who designed viaducts in Cornwall and the entire Chiltern line and held the post of New Works Engineer for the Great Western Railway.
SAVE strongly disputes the reasons advanced for the demolition of Span Four. Network rail claim that it has to be demolished to increase capacity at the station. The SAVE report argues that the construction of through platforms alongside the station for Crossrail will increase the flow of trains through the station, relieving pressure on other platforms. In addition recent and ongoing timetable reorganisation and better platform use by First Great Western will increase capacity markedly, and extra platforms could be created without destroying Span Four.
Adam Wilkinson, Secretary of SAVE, said “Network Rail’s plans to demolish Span Four and replace it with an office block are based on assumptions that are out of date or irrelevant. As is pointed out in the Strategic Rail Authority’s Route Utilisation strategy, no matter how much capacity at the station is increased, it is pointless if the rest of the network cannot handle it. Restored and adapted, Span Four will reinforce Paddington Station’s rightful place as one of the finest railway termini in the world, while providing capacity for the future expansion of network capacity”
Respected structural engineer James Sutherland said “Span Four is not a pastiche. It is the last of the great nineteenth century stations, admirably showing respect of something that is already there. In practice it is slightly better than Brunel’s spans. No one, for example, says that Brunel’s Maidenhead bridge is a pastiche, but none of the original brickwork is visible and the later brickwork is better”
Marcus Binney, President of SAVE said “It will be a tragedy if demolition is approved in 2006, the 200th anniversary of Brunel’s birth. Span Four is an extraordinarily well judged structure, which holds its own yet does not overwhelm Brunel’s work: the pictures in this report show that it formed a breathtaking perspective, more focussed than Brunel’s roofs.”
“Save Paddington’s Span Four: This Engineering Marvel Must Stay” is available from SAVE Britain’s Heritage, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ priced £4. The report also includes a number of historic pictures of Span Four, showing the elegance of Armstrong’s work.
ENDS
Contact
Adam Wilkinson SAVE Britain’s Heritage http://www.savebritainsheritage.org
tel 020 7253 3500 save@btinternet.com
http://www.savebritainsheritage.org