2012/13 Redevelopment of Ruislip Lido
LATEST HEADLINES:
Woody Bay: Complete.
Ruislip Lido: The new station building now has power, water and sewage connected to it and the ground work around is complete. The main thing is fencing around the site that is incomplete. Not far off finishing now!
(Updated 15/10/2013)
**Scroll down for our project diary**
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Hillingdon Council (LBH) are between late 2012 and 2013, redeveloping of Ruislip Lido. You can read about the whole project on the LBH website but on this page, we aim to give you an overview on how this will affect the railway, timescales and also updates on the project as it progresses.
So what does this mean for the railway?
The Ruislip Lido Railway Society is committed to fully co-operating and working with the council to get the building works to be completed as smoothly and as quickly as possible. As a result of the works around the railway stations, the train service advertised between 4th November 2012 and 25th November 2012 maybe disrupted or cancelled. We plan to run a special 'Santa Shuttles' event over the weekend of the 22nd & 23rd December and then the advertised service between 26th December and 2nd January 2013. We will then be closed until mid March 2013.
What's happening at Woody Bay Station?
At the end of October, we will be moving out of our 'Railway Room'. This is where we have our shop & cafe at present and where our staff room is. The building is to be demolished and a new Woodlands Centre is being built in its place with a large cafe. Upon completion, this building will not be associated with the railway at all. Also at Woody Bay, the current ticket office will be demolished and replaced with the current ticket office building from Ruislip Lido Station, which is of the design that it can be transported via a lorry & crane. It will be refurbished before moving to Woody Bay and once in place, will house the ticket office, line control office and the new style Railway Shop.
What's happening at Ruislip Lido Station?
At the other end of the line by the current car park, more works will take place. Firstly, the council will be building a new 150 space car park adjacent to our station as a result of the Lido's increasing popularity; the current car park simply cannot cope with the demand at busy times. A new toilet block (subject to planning application agreement) will be installed close to the station to provide much needed facilities for those spending time on Willow Lawn. As for the railway buildings at this side, the current ticket office and waiting room is being relocated at Woody Bay and a more spacious, purpose built building with air conditioning will then be installed at Ruislip Lido Station. This will house our ticket office and the new improved Railway Cafe and waiting room. This building will also act as the Society's main meeting room.
To keep you updated...
The railway's website will be regularly updated as the works progress, with details of dates when the railway will be able to operate and of proposed start times for the 2013 season. We will also keep a 'Project Diary', which you can see below.
Project Diary
7th September 2012
Today, we placed the order for the construction of our new 'Staff Mess Room', which is to be located at Woody Bay. We hope to take delivery of this in the first week of January 2013. This new building will provide a base for our staff, and is replacing the current room we have set aside for staff that is currently behind the cafe in the Railway Room.
11th October 2012
To conincide with the redevelopment works, it was agreed at the Society AGM that once the building works are complete, 'Ruislip Lido (Waters Edge) Station' will be renamed to 'Willow Lawn Station', to better reflect its location within the Lido. Until that time, the station will stay named as it is.
28th October 2012
Our shop in the Railway Room closed for the very last time today. It will next open within the new building at Woody Bay in about 6 months time. Shop Manager 'Jill Bolter' and member 'Bradley Kempster' sit in the empty shell at closing time.
4th November 2012
We have now moved out of the Railway Room and the building is now empty, ready for the demolition firm to move in and knock it down. End of an era! The building was built in 1996 after the original one burnt down.
26th November 2012
Today, we placed the order for the construction of our new Cafe and Ticket Office for Ruislip Lido Station. This new building will replace the Cafe we use to have in the Railway Room and also house the ticket office for the station. It is about twice the size of the current Ruislip Lido Station building and will feature air conditioning throughout.
27th November 2012
The Railway Room has now been knocked down.
14th December 2012
4 of our directors (Graham, Neil, Matthew & Matt) visited Middlesbrough to view the building progress of our new Mess Room and the Cafe Building for Ruislip Lido Station. The one which looks almost complete is the Mess Room, the building which is just a shell, is the Cafe.
6th January 2013
The two ticket office buildings have now been emptied and decommissioned, ready to be demolished (Woody Bay) or removed for refurbishment (Ruislip Lido).
27th January 2013
The Ruislip Lido Station building was lifted and taken to be refurbished on 24th Jan. The below video gives you a quick sample of how the sites currently look (as of 28th Jan).
17th February 2013
At the Ruislip Lido Station end, not much has changed other than all of the trees to be cut down to make way for the new car park, has now been completed. However at Woody Bay, work has really started to speed along. The new council cafe and Woodlands Centre is now in place and currently being fitted out. And on 16th Feb, our little ticket office (opened in 1992), was pulled down to allow work to start on clearing the area to lay the foundations for the refurbished building to be installed, and to also lay the foundations for the new mess room.
22nd February 2013
Another visit up north! 4 of our directors (Graham, Neil, Matthew & Matt) and new Cafe Manager Tommy, visited Middlesbrough to view the building progress of our new Cafe for Ruislip Lido Station and the refurbished ticket office building for Woody Bay. Hover over the photos for a brief description of each one.
3rd March 2013
The 8ft deep piles for the foundations of the Woody Bay Ticket Office and Mess Room are sunk into the ground and a slab will be laid over the top for the buildings to sit on.
26th March 2013
Today, the new Mess Room and Woody Bay Ticket Office were craned into place. They will now be connected up to electricity and water supplies and also have their forecourts built. Trenches have also been dug to take power and phone lines across to all of the buildings. These buildings won't be in use just yet but this was a big milestone.
2nd April 2013
A not so good news story... All train services cancelled until further notice due to unsafe working conditions at the Lido.
15th April 2013
The new DDA compliant ticket window is installed at Woody Bay by Sonic Windows.
21st April 2013
Railway reopens after short closure.
12th May 2013
High voltage power cables have been laid that connect all 5 of our buildings at Woody Bay to each other. When the power supply around the Lido is connected, we will no longer need the generator. The process for collecting the newts at Ruislip Lido Station has now started and the traps are out. We will have to wait 30 days before anything can be touched in the area. The landscaping at the front and round the two new buildings at Woody Bay have started and it is hoped the ticket office will be complete this week, with work starting on the Mess Room in a fortnight.
26th May 2013
The forecourt work continues at Woody Bay, with a revised finish date in about two weeks due to the half term. The ticket office at Woody Bay has been fitted out with noticeboards, shelves, till etc. Electric work continues to link all 5 of our buildings to each other. Water and sewage has been connected up to the Mess Room and the first flush of the new toilet took place!
4th July 2013
Firstly, apologies for the delay in posts. Woody Bay is pretty much finished now. The area has been tarmaced and fencing around the buildings is going up. The waiting room is now open along with the forecourt. The cafe at Woody Bay is now being fitted out. CCTV cameras have been installed to monitor the area from the Council's control centre. We now have steps up to our Mess Room! We are still to be connected up to the power supply, but work is going on to get this sorted in the next few weeks. Woody Bay should be finished by the end of July. As for Ruislip Lido Station, work is speeding on now that the newt collection period has finished. Total number of newts found: 0. The base for the car park is down and the roadway has been closed off. Foundation works will now start for our new building and services (power, water and sewage) are now down at the site, a big milestone for us. The building up at SiteSafe is now being finished and made ready for delivery.
12th July 2013
The last visit to SiteSafe in Middlesbrough for this project, the usual small team went to see the progress with the third and largest of the new buildings, the Ruislip Lido Station café and ticket office. Work on it is almost complete and as you can see in the following photos, the finished building bring a new modern feel to the end of the line that has never had running water, toilets or real facilities.
30th July 2013
The new station ticket office and cafe were delivered to Ruislip today and craned into position by 10am. This milestone is a key one as it means we now have all three new buildings on site. There is still a lot of work to do in and around this new building so the temporay ticket office arrangements will still remain in place for some weeks. But as work speeds along with the car park, it is only a matter of time until we move into our new home.
10th August 2013
Woody Bay is now complete, we are now connected up to the mains power supply. The car park continues to be built at Ruislip Lido.
19th September 2013
Ruislip Lido Station get hooked up to the National Grid and all other services are connected up. We need to fit out the building now. The ground work outside the building is almost complete and the council are in the process of finishing off their toilets. The car park requires some resurfacing and CCTV is currently going in. The end is in sight!
15th October 2013
All tarmacing is complete now and only one CCTV camera remains to be installed. The fencing around the site and paths still needs doing and landscaping. Once that is done, the area will be ready to open. We will shortly be fitting out our cafe and ticket office.