Gateshead Riverside – Go-Ahead North East’s new £8.5m depot open
Depot in detail
The need for a new depot had been identified many years ago, and it was high on the list of goals that the late Peter Huntley wanted to accomplish during his time as MD of Go North East. Seen from the road, which is now called Mandela Way, (though my sat-nav and none of the locals I spoke to were aware of it) the finished depot is fronted by a modern two storey office block building finished in shades of grey, behind which are the workshops, beyond them the ATF lane and beyond them the two lane fuelling and washing facilities. Outside, to the rear of the building, is the bunded fuel tank and the chassis wash. The entire yard is concreted to provide hard standing for the fleet, which will be zonally parked according to the different services operated.
I was given a complete tour of the depot by Group Property Manager, Neil Robinson and Go North East Fleet Engineer, Kirk Trewin, who explained that the process had involved a great deal of work before the build process had begun. Apart from identifying a site, there had been the purchase of the land, the planning procedure, contractor selection, and negotiating to get the price to a point that the scheme worked financially, with obtaining planning approval taking over six months to achieve. Surgo Construction handled the build while the developer was UKLEP.
Gateshead is the only depot in the North East operating articulated buses and the three ram lifts installed will enable them to be maintained easily
Stertil Koni have supplied three different lift concepts to meet Go Ahead’s requirements. This is a 14m Skylift that will cope with anything up to and including articulated buses. There is clearance in every bay for double deckers
A view of the workshops from the mezzanine floor at the far end of the facility
Work had begun on the brown field site a year to the day before the official opening and as the celebrations were held the building had been complete a week, with only a few minor items left to do such as fitting the safety guards for the chassis wash. The first 20 weeks of the build process had been taken up with civil engineering, some of which was quite major, including underground work to ensure the safety of several of the former power station’s deep coal dumps.
The main workshop section is arranged with 15 bays, essentially two deep, though an additional bus could be fitted in between the two bays. Each bay has an electrically powered Sermac up and over folding door.
Top among the priorities the design team worked to was that it should provide an entirely safe working environment for staff as well as being efficient. Manual handling has been eliminated wherever possible. Key to this has been the selection of the equipment used.
Rather than use pits in the main workshop, the decision was made to use only lifts, all of which were supplied by Stertil Koni. Three different types were specified because they offered advantages for particular tasks and vehicle types as well as providing what is considered the most flexible capability for future developments. Two of the lifts are in-ground ram lifts, as already specified by the group at Camberwell in London and also in Oxford. Capable of taking buses of all sizes, these have substantial rams that come out of the floor and power the vehicle in to the air leaving the whole of the area around the wheels free. Of the two purchased, one is a three ram unit capable of accommodating artics, while the other is a two ram lift. Installing a ram lift is a major undertaking as it requires a considerable amount of civil engineering, including a 3.0m deep excavation, tanking, waterproofing and reinforcing.
Similarly impressive are two 14.0m/20 tonne Skylift platform lifts which will also take bendibuses. Neil pointed out how both the Ram and Skylifts had special floor plate sections that rise up from beneath the lifts when they are deployed, ensuring that there is no hole left into which anyone could accidentally fall and injure themselves.
All of the lift options are capable of taking double deckers. Completing the line up are nine sets of four Stertil Koni ST1075FWF mobile column lifts and a large number of 8,200kg stands. The column lifts are wireless using industrial Bluetooth and can be configured to run in as pairs or in multiples for buses with a greater number of axles. I was told that, in theory, you could programme all of the column lifts in the workshop to raise and lower in unison at the press of a button.
Between each pair of bays is a service pole serving both bays. There are 11 in total with each providing essential fluids via retractable hoses. Water, both synthetic and mineral engine oil, transmission oils, gear oil, ready diluted screen wash and anti freeze are all delivered in this way. Airline points are provided with both half and three quarter inch couplings for different types of tools, and there is a waste oil pick up facility (described by Neil as ‘like a mobile Dalek’) that collects waste oil and pumps it into a waste oil plant.
Attached to each pole is a power point providing electricity in four different ways: three-phase 415 volt, a lower voltage 110v volt system, a low voltage 24 volt systems designed for lamps when working underneath buses, and finally a standard 240 volt system. The idea is that the method that presents the least risk is used for each task.
Shared by each pair of bays is an Auto Extract exhaust extraction system to remove exhaust fumes when engines have to be run for testing.
The workshop is heated using a Powermatic gas convection system assisted by restratification fans that blow the hot air back down. No longer are bus depots the draughty places they once were: modern building regulations require good insulation and the completed premises to be pressure tested to ensure that energy wastage is minimised. All interior and exterior lights are LEDs.
Within the depot there is only one pit, and that is in the ATF lane that will be used by VOSA to test vehicles, as well as by the company for inspections. It is equipped with a Premier Pit complete with a pit cover that opens and closes at the press of a button to prevent the possibility of anyone falling down it. VLT Systems supplied equipment including the roller brake tester while Gemco provided its LM25 luminoscope. CCTV monitors all areas of the ATF facility. In addition, Go Ahead has a 49 camera system monitoring the whole site from the reception area.
Diesel is stored in 140,000-litre tanks beyond the far end of the building, with 36,000-litres delivered every two to three days. Weekly use is 116,000 litres. Newcastle based company, W.O.Silmon, supplied the fuel systems along with those for delivering all other fluids including AdBlue, which is stored in a 14,000-litre tank. The AdBlue dispensing equipment is of stainless steel because of the nature of the liquid and was made by Pumptrans.
This bay is equipped with the same facilities as the ATF lane in order that, should there be any issue with the main lane, VOSA can still carry out tests
Should there be a problem with the ATF lane, the necessary equipment has been duplicated on the workshop bay nearest to the separate ATF facility, including a brake test roller and beam setter. This part of the workshop will usually be used for MOT preparation.
This dedicated ATF lane will be used by VoSA for MOT inspections. The organisation also has its own office on site
Traffic light controlled service lanes employ non-spill Merridale fuelling equipment supplied by W.O.Silmon of Newcastle, while the bus washes are Smith Bros & Webb four brush drive through units using recycled water
Located in two lanes at the furthest end of the new building, the fully automated fuel delivery equipment is manufactured by Merridale and has been specially designed to ensure that nothing is spilled. The system identifies the mileage and having made contact with a vehicle will automatically know its type and mileage reading. It will then only deliver the amount of fuel it needs to complete the next day’s duties. As well as monitoring fuel usage, the system links in with those for AdBlue, engine oil and other oils and if consumption starts to fall outside the normal parameters, it will flag the fact and produce an exception report, so that it can be checked and any necessary action taken.
After being directed through the fuelling process by a traffic light controlled system, buses then go through one of two Smith Brothers & Webb four brush drive through washes, the water for which is fully recycled, also taking advantage of a rainwater harvesting system from the building roof.
VOSA isn’t the only organisation to have its own base within the depot. Michelin also has a workshop/store with an office from which it manages the whole of the garage’s tyre requirements, with a full time member of staff based there to handle it. ISS, which handles all cleaning on site including the vehicles and offices, also has its own offices.
At the far end of the main workshop is a stores area with a mezzanine floor above for handling items of a size that can be carried by hand such as seats and fibreglass panels. Bulkier items are located at the main stores at Salt Meadows Road. Also provided are an electricians shop, a benched workshop area and a body shop. The furthest bay from the offices will be devoted to bodywork, to which end it is being equipped with high level access and a two-man man-safe catenary cable harness system that catches a worker if they fall. A scissor lift is to be transferred once the existing Gateshead depot closes.