Contractor: English Heritage
Type of works: Lindapter's steelwork fixings used to modernise station.

The intrinsic adjustability and 'no-weld, no-drill' nature of Lindapter's steelwork fixings are providing versatile and cost-effective solutions to structural engineering problems faced when modernising stations.

Recent high-profile applications at St Pancras illustrate the technology's virtues. Refurbishing the glass roof on St Pancras’ Barlow Shed’s Victorian arched structure posed numerous problems. Attaching a modern glazing bar system by means of welding or drilling would have weakened the existing (protected) beams, and damaged the new intumescent paint surface. Any other fixing had to be able to accommodate variations in height due to sagging in some areas, as well as coping with varying sizes and thickness of beam, and uneven surfaces caused by rivet heads.

Lindapter worked with English Heritage, the consultants and contractors to develop a solution. It designed a fixing system based on a location plate arrangement: eight Lindapter high-friction clamps mounted on fully threaded bolts.

The location plates were prefabricated, allowing each fixing to be assembled in a few minutes on site using only hand tools. A number of variations were fabricated to accommodate use at different points on the arched beams, with clamp heads suitable for the varying frictional and tensile loads at different points.

Although Lindapter today has an extremely large range of fixings, the company pioneered the steelwork clamping technique in 1934, and its standard clamps are popular worldwide for assembling secondary steelwork. Other Lindapter products are widely used in railway applications such as securing loudspeakers, signage, platform canopies, service ducts and temporary structures for refurbishments. Lindapter expertise in the rail sector includes installing rails, walkways and monorails in rail depots.