Autumn update – West Devon Transport Hub
We’re pleased to share the latest progress on the West Devon Transport Hub which will deliver a brand new, purpose-built station on the east side of Okehampton.
Over the summer and autumn, Devon County Council commissioned WSP to carry out extensive environmental, ecological and topographical surveys. These are critical to inform the design of the station and considering what environmental mitigation may be required.
Protected species include dormice, bats, badgers, great crested newts, grass snakes and slow worms and through the Dartmoor Line project, we know that dormice are present in the area. Such surveys can only be carried out at certain times of the year and credit goes to the WSP team for their agility to ensure the ecological survey window was not missed.
In parallel, Network Rail (NR), leading the design, have carried out a Minimal Viable Product workshop to ensure that the scope of the design includes the minimum requirements that meet the objectives of the project.
NR have also been in extensive discussions with the designer/contractor to develop the scope of the design work and ensuring that the team embrace Project SPEED and PACE which has two core principles to halve the time and slash the cost of delivery to provide a better service for its customers.
The team have been reviewing documents, survey information and negotiating on price with the contractor and through this process, have identified how efficiencies could be achieved by combining Engineering Stage 3 (single option design), Stage 4 (approval in principle) and Stage 5 (construction-ready). This will give the project the best chance of delivering to the challenging timescales.
We will provide further updates on this website as the project develops.
