Birmingham University Station

Completely rebuilt to serve the needs of future rail passengers, Birmingham’s new University Station also serves the Birmingham Women’s Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital as part of the Cross-City Line – and is the only British mainline station built specifically for a university.

The rebuild aimed to improve access and facilities, offer greater capacity and boost ease of use. As part of this project, the new station required certified doorsets to meet stringent standards, including for fire safety.

Key criteria

• A durable, robust closing solution designed to deal with high levels of daily traffic
• Technology which combines comfortable user movement with reliable, secure closing
• An expert installation service to ensure all doors and door closers are deployed accurately
• A supplier with experience providing specification support to contractors and architects

Solution

The new University Station is a busy public space, but also has restricted, staff-only areas. At key openings, Cam-Motion^® door closers bring easy, barrier-free access as well as reliable closing – to keep employees safe at work. 

ASSA ABLOY’s specification team worked with architects to create an accurate door hardware schedule for building contractor VolkerFitzpatrick. They prepared specification briefs and complete door solutions for internal timber and external steel doors.

«When it comes to a building like University Station that has a high footfall, we needed a safe and secure solution for the public that could withstand heavy traffic», says Phil Wood MCIOB, Senior Project Manager, VolkerFitzpatrick. «ASSA ABLOY helped us with their two-pronged approach, not only specifying a compliant solution but also fitting the doors».

In combination with ASSA ABLOY safeguard doors – which resist forced entry via mechanical or powered tools – the fire-compliant doorset was completed with the ASSA ABLOY DC500 Cam-Motion^® door closer.

Door closers with ASSA ABLOY’s unique Cam-Motion^® technology shut reliably behind everyone who passes through. This is critical to separating station public areas from staff-only zones. Because an installer can set individual latch and closing speeds, high closing force works alongside easy opening. And because valves are independent, metal and thermo-resistant, these settings remain until intentionally modified – even at extreme temperatures and faced with wind pressure or air suction.