Wessex Integrated Control Centre
Network Rail
background
The Wessex Integrated Control Centre (WICC) is located above the platform entrances at London Waterloo Station. The WICC was the first of the Integrated Control Centres to go operational (in 2003). In 2005 the control room was re-designed to fully integrate the job roles in the room. A full refurbishment was undertaken in 2009.
brief
The brief to CCD Design from Network Rail and South West Trains set out set out the following objectives:
• Improve the overall aesthetics of the space.
• Improve communications between individuals and teams.
• Improve the location of the Incident Room.
• Improve the design of the train crew sign-in point.
• Relocate the South West Trains Customer Services Team from Wimbledon to the WICC.
• Design new and more appropriate furniture.
Implementation
By re-locating the incident room and replacing it with four offices with glazed fronts we were able to open up the control room with an external view that had hitherto been concealed.
The Train Crew sign-in area was reconfigured to provide a larger sign-in counter and additional access into the Interview Room from the Control Room side (it was previously only accessible from the Train Crew Sign-in side).The existing ceiling tiles were replaced with new ones with a greater sound absorbency to improve the acoustics within the space. New carpet tiles were laid, to match those to the other ICC's, and the existing metal columns were repainted to make them less visually obtrusive.
There were tight logistical constraints on the project as the works had to be undertaken with the control room still functioning, and it was not possible to move the Solari Team or the control point for the platform barrier gates.
outcomes
The project was successfully completed at the beginning of June 2009 with no disruption to the control room functions or the station services.
"We would like to say thank you to and your team and all those directly involved in completing the WICC refurbishment in such a professional way and within the agreed timescales.
The finished product has produced a Control Centre we are all very proud of and the teams of Controllers from both South West Trains and Network Rail are all very happy with their new working environment, they have seen a step change improvement with the quality finish.
We were particularly pleased with the way the refurbishment work was planned. The design work carried out that produced exactly what we wanted, the work scheduling that met our needs at all times and how the project was closely managed throughout.
The whole process required a very co-ordinated approach from all those involved and this allowed the extensive amount of work to take place, with no impact on the daily operation of Control or the train service.
It was a job really well done."
Richard Davies, Company Operations Manager, South West Trains
Giles Baxter, Current Operations Manager, Network Rail