Accrington Eco Station: kind to the planet and passengers

An EU-funded station construction project

Thursday 9th December, 2010, saw the official opening of the new Accrington Eco Station. This innovative project developed out of a report jointly commissioned by Northern Rail and Lancashire County Council that was aptly named ‘Eco Stations’. Published in November 2006 it was the brainchild of Paul Salveson, then with Northern Rail, and John French of Transport Regeneration, and championed by Richard Watts, the Lancashire County Council rail projects manager. The project is innovative both in nature - challenging conventional rail industry construction - and in terms of delivery mechanisms, involving unconventional funding sources.

John French had already considered applying eco principles to stations. The ‘greening of surface transport’ is a particular EU aspiration and with this in mind, Transport Regeneration had already secured EU funding for refurbishment works to Dover Priory station, for Kent County Council and Dover District Council, on the basis of initial exploration of opportunities for eco construction best practice within a rail industry environment.

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Richard Watts of Lancashire County will give a presentation at The 10th Annual UK & European Rail Stations Conference on March 1. See www.RailStations.net for details

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When approached by Paul, on behalf of Northern Rail, to consider opportunities for smaller station development, John felt that a case could be made for building on the experience of Dover Priory especially with a view to EU financial support. In addition, Transport Regeneration had just commissioned and moved into its own eco office, therefore the company had some useful ‘hands on’ experience to set the ball rolling.

The original Eco Stations report had also caught the interest of both the Department for Transport and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), both organisations being interested in the potential of Accrington as a demonstration. The RSSB, after some discussion with both the Department for Transport and Network Rail, offered financial assistance to explore the practicalities of the eco stations concept as well as opportunities for EU funding.

The scene was therefore set. Transport Regeneration and Lancashire County Council (with support from the DfT, RSSB and Network Rail) lost no time in capitalising on previous experience and, following a period of consultation, developed a partnership encompassing rail companies from across Europe with a view to securing EU financial support through the Interreg IVB North West Europe programme. This particular funding stream (part of the European Regional Development Fund) is intended to encourage trans-national cooperation, hence the need for other European partners. Each of the partners brings their own like-minded initiative and a commitment to joint working, which collectively forms the SusStations (sustainable stations) project. By the end of the project in 2013 there will be four SusStation demonstration stations across North West Europe - Accrington is the first of these to be completed.

Lancashire County Council appointed Manchester-based architects SBS to take the project forward. The county council had previously worked with SBS on other rail-based projects and considered the company ideal in terms of thinking ‘out of the box’. The council was not disappointed. What has been produced is a building which embraces not just eco-construction and design but also - and arguably more importantly - a comfortable and secure passenger environment. It really is a welcome to Accrington.

Lancashire County Council is responsible for creating a truly inspiring piece of transport infrastructure but, returning to the core objective, can Accrington Eco Station claim to be first genuine 'Eco Station' in the UK? There are certainly factors that make the project different. The first is that the new eco station is built on land wholly owned by Lancashire County Council, thus freeing it from having to adhere to Railway Group Standards. Of equal importance is the comprehensive approach to sustainability. In relation to design, there were six guiding principles:

• To achieve an ‘Excellent’ Breeam rating (Building Research Establishment - Environmental Assessment Method). The Breeam process was interesting and set the design team a range of challenges. In some cases it was nearly a case of the 'tail wagging the dog' i.e. doing something to get that extra credit. The station has achieved its excellent rating and the certificate is proudly displayed at the station;
• To follow the concepts and ideas set out in the BRE ‘Green Guide to Specification’. This proved to be a useful source book that helped shape the materials and design used. In particular, the design minimises the use of structural steel and maximises the use of load bearing walls;
• To use locally sourced, low carbon materials wherever possible. This proved challenging for the design team but the stone that forms part of the exterior of the building and the stone pavers use recycled materials from properties that have been demolished in Accrington with the materials taken to a yard less than two kilometres from the station. Other materials such as the timber for the windows and glu-lam beams has been sourced from local suppliers using FSC accredited timber, ‘envirosand’ recycled glass has been used for the bedding in of the external pavers and recycled plastic has been used for the kerb edges and planters. Some of the recycled plastic came from a local community owned charity;
• To maximise the use of passive design elements to conserve energy, water and materials. The building has achieved an ‘A’ rating for its Energy Performance Certificate (EPC);
• To use appropriate eco and renewable energy technologies where they could be shown to be cost effective. The chosen technologies include solar hot water, solar electricity and rain water harvesting. Due to wind turbulence in the area further work is required to establish the viability of a wind turbine; and
• To improve on Building Regulations.

How has this been achieved? As the project design team had a reasonably flexible remit, it has been possible for them to look at a range of innovations to minimise the use of energy, water and material resources.

Of these energy conservation was at the heart of the design and has been achieved through increased insulation, solar shading, the active use of natural light and ventilation along with energy efficient fittings. On top of this the project uses local, low embodied energy building materials as described above. A Building Management System controls and monitors the green features of the station. This controls all the systems that have been installed and monitors energy generation and usage. A special link will enable this information to be displayed to visitors at the station.

Turning to the unconventional financial package, the new station has a capital cost of about £1.2m with funding coming from a number of sources. Of these three particularly stand out. The EU contribution to capital works was around £500,000, through the SusStations Interreg IVB project. In addition, a contribution of over £530,000 was made from Lancashire County Council's LTP and a grant of £200,000 was secured from the section 106 for the new adjacent Tesco superstore.

The project has also seen other improvements taking place at the station including the provision of a new 40 space car park, cycle parking, new passenger shelters with the old ones recycled for use at Lostock Hall station, improved signage and seating and the upgrading of passenger information systems. To support local engagement, the East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership - and Brian the Bull – are making a DVD targeted on KS2 school children as part of SusStations. Accrington is also one of the pilot Station Travel Plan locations.

Now the station is open and functioning, its visual impact is self evident – a direct contrast to the previous building. Before and after monitoring of passenger views will be undertaken. Passenger footfall and running costs and environmental impacts will also be monitored and reported in future editions of the SusStation newsletter. Lancashire County Council should be proud of its active role and track record in making a real difference for rail passengers in the County. The authority is continuing to look at other unconventional funding sources for future improvements.

For more information about the SusStation project and to subscribe to the six-monthly email newsletter, please contact the SusStation Coordinator, Jo French, on jo.french@transportregeneration.co.uk.

Richard Watts of Lancashire County will give a presentation at The 10th Annual UK & European Rail Stations Conference on March 1. See www.RailStations.net for details

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Jo French is a director of Transport Regeneration Ltd. She also works as a transport expert for the European Commission. She is particularly interested in the links between transport, local development and sustainability.