Newcastle City Council has secured grant funding for connectivity improvement works in and around Central Station, Newcastle. The wider programme includes improvements to Orchard Street Tunnel and Forth Street Tunnel, with works intended to improve the pedestrian environment and support better movement around the station area.
Orchard Street Tunnel provides an important pedestrian link between the station / Neville Street area and the Founders Place quarter of the city. The tunnel is also used by station taxis as a queuing and waiting area before entering the station taxi rank.
The existing overhead cladding panel system in Orchard Street Tunnel is functional but is not considered to provide the desired aesthetic quality for the wider improvement scheme. The current panel arrangement also creates access difficulties for street lighting maintenance and Network Rail inspection activities.