About the Project

Wickford in Essex is the UK's first Hub Station, built to Network Rail's new modular station design. We designed, supplied and installed the semi-transparent solar glass roof on its main platform canopy.

About the Project

Greater Anglia has rebuilt Wickford Station using the Hub Station concept. Instead of one large station building, a Hub Station is a "kit of parts": a platform canopy, a clock tower, activity frames and small pods, each built as a separate structure.

The canopy is the centrepiece. It is nine metres wide, with a glulam timber structure on stainless steel columns. Our solar glass forms the roof, so the canopy keeps passengers dry, lets daylight through and generates electricity for the station.

The Challenge

As the first Hub Station, Wickford had no previous project to copy. The team had to turn a standard concept design into a buildable, compliant scheme, and solve each problem for the first time.

  • A minimal, exposed structure The canopy design leaves nowhere to hide cables or equipment, so every cable route had to be planned into the roof from the start.
  • A live railway The station stayed open throughout. Lifts had to happen in short overnight windows, with the rest of the site working around them.
  • Several structures, several suppliers The glulam canopy, stainless steel frames, clock tower and solar roof all came from different specialists, and they had to fit together to the millimetre.
  • A break in the roof The clock tower sits within the canopy, so the solar array had to be split around it.

The Solution

We used 148 bespoke PS-CT-64 series panels with 20% light transmission. We made them in two sizes to suit the canopy grid: 92 panels at 2800mm x 954mm (297W each) and 56 panels at 2600mm x 954mm (275W each).

The panels are laid in two rows: one of 51 panels, and a second row of 51 and 46 panels with a gap for the clock tower. They are linked in series and parallel across 4 MPPT inputs on a single 40 kW three-phase Huawei inverter, housed in a small electrical room at the end of the canopy.

To keep site time short, we built the roof off site. We sealed the solar glass into our own prefabricated aluminium ladder system, which spans more than 5 metres unsupported and carries the cabling inside the glazing bars. Our installation team then lifted each ladder section onto the glulam beams using a Hiab crane and a vacuum glass lifter, during overnight visits from August 2026. We also made and fitted the perimeter flashings.

This modular approach is quick on site, but it only works if the structure below is exact. We worked closely with Walker Construction and the timber and steel fabricators so the ladders dropped straight into place.

The Result

Wickford now has a 44 kWp (kilowatt-peak) solar roof over its platform. Modelling suggests it will generate around 37 MWh of electricity a year. The station uses this power on site and exports any surplus to the grid.

The project also shows that solar glass can be part of the Hub Station kit of parts from day one, rather than added later. What we learned at Wickford is already shaping our work on the next Hub Stations.

Technical Specification

  • System size 44 kWp
  • Panel model PS-CT-64 series thin-film CdTe solar glass
  • Panel count 148 bespoke panels
  • Panel sizes 92 x 2800mm x 954mm x 18.3mm (297W) and 56 x 2600mm x 954mm x 18.3mm (275W)
  • Glass build-up 6mm heat-strengthened top glass, 3.2mm active solar layer and 6mm toughened inner glass, laminated with PVB
  • Light transmission 20%
  • Mounting Polysolar prefabricated aluminium ladder system, glazed off site
  • Inverter 40 kW three-phase
  • Estimated generation Around 37 MWh a year
  • Warranty 25-year performance warranty (90% of peak power at 10 years, 80% at 25 years); 10-year product warranty on panels and structure

Project Details

Project Partners

Installation Partners

Planning a station canopy or Hub Station? Get in touch to discuss your project: 01223 911534

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