ievo® is at the core of the £400m contract to redevelop London Bridge Station as part of the wider Thameslink programme within the capital. ievo® was specified by Costain for the job following an incomparable product demo. This left ievo®'s elite list of installers eager for more information on the venture. Costain's decision to choose ievo® products was due to the high reliability and robustness of the readers, making ievo® the ultimate choice for the project. Managing Director of ievo® Shaun Oakes expressed his pleasure by stating "the success of securing this project proves that ievo® are top of the biometrics industry. We worked relentlessly to develop a product that would surpass all others on reliability and robustness so it is rewarding to see that others are also now recognising this."

The ievo® readers are being used to centrally manage worker access to the tunnel shafts on Costain and Skanska's £200m London Power Tunnel contract for National Grid. The project is an extremely large scale one with ievo® currently supplying over 20 readers to be implemented within the site to provide maximum access control security.

The London Bridge Station is scheduled for completion in 2018. The project will see through-station passenger capacity rise to 90 million people a year from 55 million currently. The project is set to get underway in 2013 lasting 5 years. The station is the fourth busiest station in the country. Network rail has quoted "the changes we are making will allow us to introduce hundreds of Thameslink trains every day - one every three minutes - offering better connections than ever before."

The features and benefits of the project will include

• A new concourse at street level, with entrances on Tooley Street and St Thomas Street. The concourse will be filled with natural light that will come through the canopies that will cover the platforms above, making a more pleasant environment for passengers.

• Space for around two thirds more passengers than use the station today.
• An increase in the number of tracks going through the station from six to nine and a reduction from nine to six in the number of terminating platforms. This will enable eighteen of the planned 24 Thameslink services per hour to call at London Bridge.
• Step-free access to all platforms from the main concourse, making the station easier to use – especially for people with reduced mobility, or those with luggage or small children.

ievo® are extremely proud to be part of the project