Month: January 2023

A summary of why Murphy is a great place to work included the feedback that many employees noted how there are ‘various opportunities’ available for personal development with confidence that the organisation will look to promote from within. Employees also appreciate that there are ‘always opportunities for working on interesting projects’.

In addition, there is a strong sense of ‘family’ within individual teams, with employees doing whatever they can to ‘help each other out’. Employees share that there is a sense of ‘community’ and ‘care’ with colleagues that leads to a shared appreciation for working with ‘people that genuinely care for your wellbeing’.  It was also widely acknowledged that the leadership team ‘genuinely care about people’ and are approachable.

Dawn Moore, Group People and Communications Director at Murphy said; “We are delighted to see Murphy officially recognised by Best Companies for the second year running as an outstanding place to work.

“This is great recognition for all our teams who work so hard every day to deliver fantastic projects across the business.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported our People Strategy over the last three years in order to achieve our aim of making Murphy a great place to work where our people feel secure and comfortable to be themselves.”

The £37.8m contract includes work to begin construction and enabling work for the new station on behalf of partners Essex County Council and Chelmsford City Council. This phase of the work includes set up of site welfare, earthworks, civils, modifications to track and signalling systems to facilitate the main construction phase of the new facility.

Main construction for the new station facility will be part of a second contract expected to be awarded in the coming months to complete the station and open it to train services for the benefit of passengers.

As part of a wider regeneration scheme, the new station has been designed to support the wider economic development of the area and its construction will include:

• Three platforms with a central loop line and new tracks to enable stopping services to call at the station while allowing fast trains to pass through unimpeded
• Step free access to all platforms via 2 lifts
• Accessible toilets, baby change facilities, waiting area and space for retail/catering
• Ticketing facilities, with ticket vending machines and a gate line
• Pedestrian and cycle access routes to the station
• 500 spaces for cycle parking and storage
• A bus interchange including bus stands for local services
• Pick up and drop off area with dedicated taxi bays
• Parking for over 700 cars, 5% of which to be designated Blue Badge bays, and motorcycle spaces, as well as dedicated parking for station staff, emergency services, and a dedicated space for service access

J Murphy & Sons Ltd has already been working on the project by finalising the design for Beaulieu Park station and have begun to establish the site compound to undertake the early enabling works.

The main construction phase will start later this year and the new station is currently expected to be completed and open by the end of 2025. Once open, the station will be managed by Greater Anglia and served by its fleet of new trains with services into London.

Katie Frost, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “Beaulieu Park is an excellent example of what the railway industry can do when working in partnership with local organisations to improve the railway for the benefit of communities and businesses. This is a great opportunity to show how we can work collaboratively with all our partners to begin to deliver the new station for the Beaulieu community.”

Al Pattison, Operations Director, J. Murphy and Sons Ltd, said: “We are excited to begin building this new station for the people of Beaulieu. The station has been developed by our teams for the last three years and is now ready for delivery. Murphy have previously demonstrated our expertise on the building of Soham Station, which we completed ahead of schedule. The team is looking forward to getting started on site and continuing our partnership with Network Rail.”

Cllr Lesley Wagland OBE, Essex County Council Cabinet member for Economic Renewal, Infrastructure and Planning, said: “The appointment of J Murphy and Sons to construct Beaulieu Park train station is another significant step towards starting the development of this exciting and important project, which will play a significant role in allowing Essex County Council to future proof transport services in the area and support wider economic growth.”

Cllr Stephen Robinson, Leader of Chelmsford City Council, said: “The new station is an important part of the extensive and vital infrastructure being put in place to support the new Chelmsford Garden Community. It will reduce the need to drive into central Chelmsford and tackle congestion, by encouraging greener options like cycling, walking and public transport.”

SELEP Chair, Sarah Dance, said: “As a key funder of Beaulieu Park Railway Station, SELEP is delighted to see this important project progress to its next phase of development. Centred in a key growth area for the City of Chelmsford, Beaulieu Park Station will provide a sustainable transport hub for the north Chelmsford growth area, which will provide new homes and modern office and business space to the north east of Chelmsford. This will offer improved access to the rail network for local residents but also the wider area of Maldon, Braintree and Uttlesford districts, whilst removing pressure from Chelmsford City Centre.”

Martin Leach, Managing Director, Strategic Land and Major Projects, Countryside, said: “We are delighted to have reached the next milestone of this major project, which will bring such a crucial piece of infrastructure to the area. For a long time Countryside (now part of the Vistry Group) along with our development partner L&Q have been working in partnership with Essex County Council, Chelmsford City Council and Network Rail, to bring this brand-new railway station to fruition. Once open, the station will significantly improve transport connections for Beaulieu residents and the wider Chelmsford community. We look forward to seeing the construction of the station progress in the coming months.”

Adam Simpson, Director of Project Management and Development at L&Q, said: “We are very excited to be progressing with the growth of this new community in the heart of Essex and the Beaulieu Station forms an integral part of that. We welcome the continued support and partnership work with Chelmsford City Council, Essex County Council and Network Rail, as well as Countryside, our delivery partners at Beaulieu, and look forward to having our Beaulieu residents riding the first train from their new local station.”

Seventy new homes are coming to Marks Gate next year, as a housing block in the Padnall Lake development nears completion. The block has been delivered by J. Murphy & Sons Limited for client Be First, the regeneration arm of Barking and Dagenham Council, and it sits adjacent to the newly opened Padnall lake.

To celebrate the near completion, a topping out ceremony was held at the new block, called Newcombe House, with Mark Crane, Development Director at Be First, the Deputy Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, Saima Ashraf and members of the Murphy team.

Be First has a strong history of creating new, high-quality homes for people and communities in Barking and Dagenham, and through its work the borough has been named the most affordable for housing in London. At Padnall Lake, there will be 70 units in total, made up of 26 three-bedroom town houses and 44 flats one- and two- bedroom flats, all offered at affordable rent.

As part of the wider Padnall Lake development and a continued commitment to improving the borough for residents and communities, Murphy has supported Be First’s mission to completely refurbish the area, breathing new life into the popular local lake in Chadwell Heath. Together, they have improved the cleanliness of the lake, enhanced biodiversity, created new cycling and walking paths, delivered significant open space, and provided a new community space for residents.

This is the third scheme Murphy have supported Be First on and both look forward to working successfully together over the coming years in support of their goal to deliver a cleaner, greener area for residents in Dagenham.

Deputy Council Leader, Cllr Saima Ashraf said:

“It’s great to see more homes being built here by our partners at Be First and contractors at Murphy. We aren’t just building flats here, but family sized town houses too, so local families can stay local. We are delivering on our promises to build more affordable, safe housing for local people.”

Mark Crane, Director of Delivery, Be First said:

“This area of the borough has one of the highest levels of housing need and we are working with the Council to give priority to local people who want to live in the new homes. We are grateful to our partners Murphy, who have done such a good job building this development and tidying up Padnall Lake next door for residents to enjoy.

“At Be First, we are creating places which everyone can be proud of and are committed to creating a fairer borough and building opportunity for all.” 

Miles Cobley, Specialist Business Managing Director, at Murphy, said:

“At Murphy our purpose is to improve life by delivering world-class infrastructure, and so we are particularly pleased to be delivering this project to provide high quality new homes for the benefit of the local community here in Marks Gate. We take great care to ensure that every project we undertake is executed to the highest standard, and this project is no exception. We are proud to be working alongside our valued client, Be First to bring this project to fruition.”

Work started in Aug 2021 and the proposed completion date is May 2024, with a move in date set for later that year.

The lake and the play area are all part of the Phase One project for Padnall Lake, which includes the flats, the houses, and a lot of investment into the lake and amenity spaces.

While many were putting their feet up, teams from across J. Murphy & Sons Limited were hard at work over Christmas completing vital projects across the country.

Here are just of some of the impressive works carried out over the last few weeks:

Bridge replacement – Three Colts Lane
Working within a physically constrained location surrounded by residential flats and businesses, the Murphy team demolished and replaced the bridge at Three Colts Lane, London. Despite adverse weather conditions the original structure has now been replaced with a new steel bridge.

Strengthening works – Bishopsgate Tunnel
Bridge strengthening works involved the installation of heavy steel components lifted and installed using Road Rail Vehicles fitted with manipulator attachments. The scope involved the installation of preassembled needle & spreader beam assemblies, coring into the brick substrate, installation of top needles, grouting of all needles, installation of Cintec Anchors and earthing & bonding to the newly installed steelwork.

New track connection – Holbeck Depot Leeds
Colleagues in the TRU East Alliance successfully installed a new scissors S&C unit as part of the major engineering works at Holbeck. The new track layout will ease access and egress from Holbeck Depot and free up much needed capacity on this critical section of route. The project is a key enabler for future planned works in the Leeds area, improving diversionary routes and minimising disruption to passengers over the coming years.

Platform reinstatement – Liverpool Street Station
At Liverpool St Station, Murphy completed the reinstatement of platforms in time for passengers return to the office. 

Additional works included the installation of a Road Rail Access Point in Cambridge that will allow strategic access for future projects; while in Broxbourne, Herts colleagues prepared the Nazeing New Road bridge for the upcoming replacement in January 2023.

As the rest of the business returned following the festive break, Daniel Hickey, Project Director for the works at Three Colts, Bishopsgate, Liverpool St and Broxbourne, praised the efforts of his teams and all those who ensured vital works were completed on time:

“Yet again, our people and partners have impressed with their commitment, skill and expertise in safely delivering these critical works. Whilst others were enjoying their Christmas dinner and toasting the New Year, our teams were busy renewing vital rail infrastructure. A big thank you to them for sacrificing time with their family and friends to deliver these works!”