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Manchester Piccadilly Station
Location: Manchester
Architect: Jefferson Sheard Architects (formerly EGS Design)
Main Contractor: Laing Limited
The flexibility and efficiency of the Fullflow syphonic roof drainage system was fully demonstrated at Manchester Piccadilly Station in 1999 following its first major overhaul since 1959. Manchester Piccadilly Station was opened in 1867 and over the years general pollution and inclement weather caused widespread damage. Refurbishment was in two main areas – the restoration of the main station building including platforms and the renewal of all passenger canopies.
The original Victorian rainwater drainage system was based on a series of cast iron gutters and downpipes, but decay had made them unreliable so an alternative was essential. Engineers, Thorburn Colquhoun, did not want to totally replace the original rainwater system but chose instead to specify a system that could work within it. Only syphonic self-priming roof drainage with its advantages of unobtrusive pipework and fewer downpipes could do this. Any new drainage system would also have to be flexible enough to fit in and around the ornate steel roof decoration.
The innovative and unique Fullflow system utilises the total head from the roof surface to the discharge point of the downpipe. Below atmospheric pressure is generated within the pipes which in turn leads to water being literally sucked off the roof. Several materials were specified for the contract. The gutter outlets were made from aluminium and were connected to various diameters of polyethylene (HDPE/HPPE) pipework which was routed inside and around the existing cast iron guttering. Thickwall stainless steel downpipes were used where the rainwater system passed through public areas. Stainless steel was chosen because it is aesthetically attractive, maintenance free and resists passenger and vehicle damage. Once below platform level, cast iron pipework was used within the undercroft area.
To maintain the visual integrity of the system Fullflow devised a series of cast iron hoppers and stainless steel shrouds, and bracketing was kept to an absolute minimum. The whole syphonic system was designed and manufactured at Fullflow’s Sheffield works and subsequently installed by the company’s own site teams.
This complex contract posed several questions for Fullflow’s designers in terms of the marrying of different materials, and the manufacture and installation of system elements to tight tolerances. These challenges were tackled successfully and the syphonic roof drainage system is now up and running, efficiently dealing with the prolonged rainfall for which Manchester is rightly famous.
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