Belfast Grand Central Station

Belfast Grand Central Station replaces the outdated Europa Bus Centre and Great Victoria Street Railway Station with the largest integrated transport hub in Ireland. Built on a nine-hectare former railway yard, the project had to be delivered within a live rail environment and construction began just two weeks before the first COVID-19 lockdown. Further challenges included complex engineering, ambitious sustainability and social value targets, and creating a calm, accessible public space capable of connecting historically divided communities.

WH Stephens - a Gardiner & Theobald company provided Cost Management services and commercial advice throughout delivery, helping Translink maintain cost certainty and programme control despite COVID-19 disruption, supply chain pressures and a complex multi-disciplinary design. Our team supported commercial decision-making across major infrastructure elements, including the 66m steel span over operational rail lines and the 51m Corten steel busway bridge. Cost input also helped the client balance investment in passenger experience, accessibility, sustainability and long-term performance while responding to changing market conditions during construction.

Delivered on schedule, Belfast Grand Central Station doubles rail platforms from four to eight and increases bus stands from 18 to 26, with capacity for 20 million passenger journeys a year. The scheme also exceeded its social value target by 265% and incorporates measures including high-recycled-content steel, lower-carbon concrete, natural ventilation, solar photovoltaic panels and rainwater harvesting. WH Stephens' Cost Management support contributed to the project’s commercial control, helping enable delivery of a major new transport hub at the heart of the wider Weavers Cross regeneration.