St Erth Multi Modal Hub wins Exceptional Achievement Award

The St Erth multi-modal hub has been named this year’s joint winner of the CEEQUAL Exceptional Achievement award in the category of Restoration of Contaminated Land and Landscaping. These awards (for evidence-based sustainability, rating and certification) recognise project teams who have pioneered innovation and demonstrated best practice and this win celebrates the excellent environmental, geotechnical and remediation work on this project.

Designed to enable sustainable transport in West Cornwall, the multi-modal hub addresses road congestion issues and supports sustainable commuting by connecting Cornwall’s rail line, A30 trunk road and bus network and improving pedestrian and cycle access to St Erth railway station.

The site, previously used as a mine and scrapyard, had high concentrations of heavy metals and hydrocarbons creating a  complex array of challenges including: dealing with collapsing mine shafts, hazardous waste and the presence of Japanese Knotweed. Wills Bros and RPS were contracted by Cornwall County Council for the design and construction of the multi-modal hub and the RPS team, led by Project Manager Ken Waldron, used combined geotechnical, environmental and mining skills to identify and implement a bioremediation solution. 

In their citation the judges noted they “were impressed by the team’s hard work in finding solutions to challenges that would ‘ordinarily have killed the project’ given its size” and “Under huge pressure to maintain progress and achieve a successful outcome – and despite encountering vastly different conditions to those anticipated at the outset – the team developed solutions that minimised the financial and environmental consequences of the remedial work.”

The completed project consists of new car parks, a roundabout, widening a section of A-road and junction signalisation at a renowned accident blackspot. The improvements integrate rail, bus, walking and cycling at the station, which connects the Penzance to Paddington and St Erth to St Ives train services. The hub includes:

• Approximately 540 new car parking spaces and associated infrastructure;
• Ticket vending facilities, CCTV, electric car charging facilities and lighting;
• Improved signal controlled crossing for pedestrians accessing the station;
• Drop off/pick up and bus facilities providing easy access to public transport services, and;
• Improved station frontage, drainage works, road construction, retaining structures and cycle storage facilities.