Mayor and Prime Minister joined by UK business leaders and Arup as Europe’s largest construction project gets underway.
Crossrail, London’s first new major railway in a generation, reached a landmark moment on Friday as the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, marked the start of construction at a breakfast briefing with UK business leaders.
Construction began with the laying of foundations for the new Canary Wharf Station, of which Arup is lead designer as well as engineering designer for 100,000 square feet of retail space and a roof-top park.
The Mayor was joined by Transport Minister Andrew Adonis, London’s Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy, Crossrail Chairman Douglas Oakervee, Canary Wharf Group Chief Executive George Iacobescu, as well as delivery partner representatives, including Arup, to launch the first of over three hundred 18.5 metre-tall steel piles that will form the basis of the new station. Arup has worked closely with Canary Wharf Group and Expanded Limited to develop the design in time for the start of piling.
The new station will be built in North Dock between Canary Wharf and North Quay and when complete will be one of the largest on the Crossrail network.
In order to build the station inside and below the dock, a vast temporary structure is being built to hold back up to 10 metres depth of dock water, leaving the inside space dry for construction. The total retained water length and depth in the dock is similar to that of the Thames Barrier.
Crossrail services will begin operating from 2017, cutting journey times across London and allowing travel from Canary Wharf to Liverpool Street in 7 minutes, to Paddington in 17 minutes and to Heathrow in 44 minutes.
Arup’s project leader for the new Canary Wharf station, John Batchelor, commented: "We have enjoyed the challenge of coming up with an innovative but cost-effective design in time for Canary Wharf Group’s exacting procurement programme. Our close working relationship has really helped us find better solutions, and we are also fortunate to be working with a contractor that has embraced the design and planning challenges, and has risen to them throughout."