Architecture
The train shed roof which is 105 metres wide between platforms 1 and 12, has four spans, two spans 185 metres in length over the eastern part of the station date from the 1860s while the other two at the western side measuring 150 metres long were built in the early 1880s. The roof is supported by masonry walls with round-headed windows alongside platforms 1 and 12 and rows of cast iron columns. The roof spans have wrought iron trusses with cast iron struts on girders between the columns. The original roof was covered with slate tiles with some glazing. The slates were subsequently replaced with boarded felt. Between 1997 and 1999 the roof was refurbished and 10,000 panes of toughened glass ‘float’ above the wrought iron trusses.
Below the train shed is an area once used as a goods station. Its cast iron columns and brick arches support the non-through platforms above. The area is now used by the Metrolink station, its tracks and sidings. The columns were encased in concrete for protection against collision.
George W. Buck designed the original skew arch bridge over Fairfield Street with ten cast iron arch ribs as part of a long brick arch viaduct topped with open stonework parapets. The bridge was widened by adding wrought iron plate girders and transverse girders, supporting longitudinal joists with iron arch plates. As part of reconstruction in the 1960s the cast iron arches and spandrels were encased in concrete. Platforms 13 and 14 are situated on the bridge.
The main entrance leads to a concourse with ground floor and mezzanine levels. The Fairfield Street entrance leads to the Metrolink station in the undercroft and is linked to the rail platforms by escalators. Redevelopment between 1997 and 2002 revised the station layout. A glass partition wall separates the concourse from the platforms. The station's approach, constructed in 1969 along with the "wavy" fronted Gateway House by Richard Seifert, was modernised in 2003.
Read more about this topic: Manchester Piccadilly Station
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