Booth Industries completed a circa £1.3 million contract for London’s Silvertown Tunnel in 2024, supplying and installing 25 specialist stainless steel doorsets for the major road infrastructure project.
The 1.4km twin-bore tunnel beneath the River Thames links the Greenwich Peninsula with Silvertown. Booth supplied 15 cross-passage emergency escape doors and 10 plant room doors, with the wider tunnel subsequently opening in April 2025.
The contract required the doors to meet demanding fire, pressure and durability standards. The emergency escape doors provide up to two hours of fire protection and were designed to support both evacuation and firefighter access.
The doors also needed to withstand repeated pressure changes generated by traffic travelling through the tunnel. This piston effect creates pressure cycles of plus or minus 3kPa, requiring a design capable of combining fire protection with pressure fatigue resistance over an extended operating life.
The plant room doors were also designed to meet EI120 fire integrity and insulation requirements while maintaining resistance to repeated pressure loading.
Booth adapted its existing road tunnel door system to meet the project specification. The design was supported by destructive testing and finite element analysis, with the final system carrying assurance for a 35-year design life.
Booth completed its delivery and installation work in 2024, two months ahead of schedule.
Avingtrans plc (LON:AVG) has a proven strategy of “buy and build” in highly regulated engineering markets, a strategy it has named “Pinpoint-Invest-Exit”.
