Design process
The architects were appointed after winning an international design competition which the client held in 1995 with the assistance of the RIBA Competitions office.
The brief was to reconcile the complex vehicle and pedestrian circulation at this busy intersection, and to integrate the functionally and visually fragmented townscape. The objectives were improved efficiency in the bus operation, a safer environment for passengers, and openness for the station, enabling people to enter and leave from all directions.
The competition set the basic functional brief for traffic circulation and the station accommodation, whilst the architects' competition entry developed this with the addition of the enclosed concourse, the large canopy and the square.
Consultation occurred through the second phase of the design competition, with the four shortlisted schemes on display in the town centre, inviting comments and subject to a public vote.
A key principle on which the design was based was that buses travel in curves rather than right angles, with the architects developing the orthogonal layout of the client's brief into the curved layout of the built scheme at competition stage. This led to the design of the elliptical roof, with the bus lanes snaking under them. The architects produced full-scale mock-ups of bus-lane configurations to inform the layout.
As the planners were involved with the competition and selection of the architects they were supportive of the scheme. Approval was given in April 1997.
Low maintenance was sought, with self-finished and vandal proof materials. Pre-fabrication was considered for some of the concrete elements, but rejected on cost and construction grounds.
The need for flexible locations for the columns and circular apertures, to follow the road layout, meant that a rational support grid could not be adopted. This necessitated structural innovation in the design of the concrete slab which had to act as a structural plate to cope with the differing spans.
Work commenced on site in September 1998, with completion and handover in July 2000.
