Birmingham New Street Station
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Cambian Role:
Geometry Optimisation, GRG mould tooling design and production
Project Team:
Architects: Hiskoll Architects and Designers || GRG Contractor: Design & Visual Concepts
The impressive concourse of the Birmingham New Street Station is dominated by the large flared columns. Cambian optimised the geometry, modulated the system for installation, and produced the mould tooling for the GRG casings.

GRG Column Cladding
The concourse of Birmingham New Street Station is dominated by the curved truss roofing system, covered in a tensile fabric, and supported by a grid of eight tapering columns.
The tapering columns are formed in GRG providing a decorative fire-resistant cladding, concealing the structural elements within. A standardised Uni-strut framework system was used for installation of the GRG components.
Cambian optimised the geometry for the columns to suit forming from a single cast component which incorporated all the complex geometry. A common vertical split location was introduced on the side faces to facilitate setting out and ensure correct positioning at the interface with the tensile fabric.
Fabricated Moulds
Each of the 9.7m tall columns was split into five modules, equalising surface area to approx. 4m2 per cast. This yielded large GRG components, but also minimised site joints required.
Cambian created a single parametric detailed design for the moulds, which was able to be positioned at any point in the height of the column. The design intent was embedded such that the model adapted to the surface geometry of the specific column and position, creating production data for each of the 15 moulds from the single original model.
The moulds were fabricated from MR MDF panels, the interface between the framework and skin panels CNC machined to the profile to match the exact geometry. An MDF skin applied to this framework was then finished in Polyester Resin, before demountable side panels were fitted to cater for the re-entrant geometry.
