Building: "WSP and Farrells picked for Old Oak Common station project"

"Engineer WSP and architect Farrells have been appointed to design options for an overground station at Old Oak Common to connect to the planned interchange between HS2 and Crossrail.

"There is currently no plan in place to connect London’s overground network to HS2 and Crossrail at Old Oak Common.

"WSP and Farrells will work up three options for how to connect the overground network to the two major rail projects.

"Dave Darnell, project director at WSP, said the scheme was:

"hugely exciting, and that there was “the potential to create a major new regional transport hub."

"He said a new station at Old Oak Common connecting into HS2 and Crossrail would:

"take some of the demand off existing overloaded routes by providing links to HS2 from the west and south west without travelling into central London.

It is technically and environmentally challenging and we will be drawing on our considerable experience in the successful design of stations and railway engineering both here in the UK and abroad and on the masterplanning expertise of our project partners, Farrells."

"Mayor sets out plan for 22-mile ring-road tunnel under London" (Good grief)

Link to Evening Standard

"Plans to transform central London with a 22-mile-long underground ring road can be revealed today.

"Costing £30 billion to construct, it would remove tens of thousands of cars from the crowded streets above.

"The Inner Orbital Tunnel would be one of the most ambitious infrastructure schemes ever seen in the city, with subterranean dual carriageways linking key routes, from the A40 Westway to the A12 in the east, and the A1 route north to the A2 running south." 

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Jeff Speck en Exploraciones para una Megalópolis 002: Ciudad Peatón from Laboratorio para la Ciudad on Vimeo. (Video in English!)

"La segunda edición de Exploraciones para una megalópolis, Ciudad Peatón, fue un espacio de diálogo y propuesta en torno a la recuperación de la escala humana, los espacios subutilizados, y el enfoque en el peatón –una de las prioridades del gobierno actual de la ciudad y una de las provocaciones a las que el Laboratorio dedicará especial atención este año.

"Jeff Speck es urbanista y arquitecto. A través de textos, conferencias y trabajo construido aboga internacionalmente por el crecimiento inteligente y el diseño sustentable. Como Director de Diseño del National Endowment for the Arts de EUA trabajó en un programa para erradicar la degradación urbana. También fue Director de Planeación en Duany Plater-Zybek and Co., agencia líder en Nuevo Urbanismo. Es coautor de Suburban Nation y de The Smart Growth Manual. Su más reciente libro se titula Walkable City, o Ciudad Caminable, y explora “cómo los centro urbanos pueden salvar Estados Unidos paso a paso."

Google Translate: "The second edition of Explorations for a Megalopolis, City Pedestrian, was a space for dialogue and proposal regarding the recovery of the human scale, underutilized spaces, and focus on the pedestrian-one of the priorities of the current city government and one of the provocations to which the Laboratory devote special attention this year.

Jeff Speck is a town planner and architect. Through texts, lectures, and built work internationally advocating for smart growth and sustainable design. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts U.S. worked in a program to eradicate urban blight. He was also Director of Planning at Duany Plater-Zybek and Co., a leader in New Urbanism agency. He is co-author of Suburban Nation and The Smart Growth Manual. His most recent book is titled Walkable City, or City walkable, and explores "how urban center can save the United States step by step."

IanVisits: "Crossrail TBM gets police escort through East London"

Link to web site

"You’re a tunnel boring machine, quietly boring your way under London, when suddenly you get a police escort!

"Well, that happened to Crossrail recently, as one of their TBMs had to be taken from Stepney, over to the Limmo Peninsula near Canning Town in East London."

Evening Standard: "Overhaul of Euston starts to take shape"

Link to web site
(image is of 2008 scheme)

"There is a political and planning minefield to cross before Related Companies can break ground on a £5.3 billion redevelopment of Euston station.

"But the giant US developer of Hudson Yards in New York has made a shrewd first move.

"A lock-up agreement was signed earlier this month with the Gross family, owners of Sydney & London — a relative tiddler but landlord of 300,000 square feet of ageing real estate sat on two acres in front of the station. 'Any other bidder will have to issue us with a compulsory purchase order,' S&L’s chief executive Richard Anning said."

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Link to S&L documents

"In 2008, in conjunction with Atkins, we published our Vision Masterplan for the redevelopment of Euston Station and the surrounding area. Commissioned by the owners of The Euston Estate, the project helped us to understand the potential for a comprehensive, mixed use, over-station development scheme at Euston that reflected the aspirations of the various stakeholders as well as the constraints associated with delivering a project of that scale. However, the announcement in 2010 that Euston had been selected as the London terminus for the HS2 rail project meant that the scheme proposed in our Vision Masterplan was no longer deliverable.

"We have therefore revisited the original scheme and, working again with Atkins and our new development partner, Related Corporation – the American developers behind the Hudson Rail Yards scheme in New York – have produced an updated document that sets out the principles behind a revised masterplan. This scheme is compatible with the current HS2 proposals for Euston ('Option 8') but will also maximise the value from the site, helping to fund the station modernisation and deliver the community.

New Civil Engineer: Old Oak Common

"Ambitious plans to transform one of the most deprived parts of London into a thriving new district with up to 24,000 new homes and more than 55,000 jobs have moved a step closer.

"Deputy mayor for planning Sir Edward Lister has announced that City Hall is about to enter detailed negotiations with three local authorities for the creation of a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDCto drive the comprehensive regeneration of a 80ha semi-industrial site at Old Oak Common, West London.

"The Mayor’s team will shortly meet with Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent and Ealing councils to agree these details so that the MDC can best maximise the enormous benefits that are linked to the construction of the High Speed 2 (HS2) and Crossrail superhub station that is due to be constructed by 2026.

"Lister made the announcement at the Mipim property fair in Cannes today [20 March]. The announcement follows Johnson’s keynote speech at the same event earlier this week:

"Transport vital to London regeneration effort says Mayor"

HS2 Growth Taskforce: "A report to government on maximising the benefits of HS2"

Link to PDF file

"This report sets out the main challenges the High Speed 2 (HS2) Growth Taskforce can see in maximising the benefits from HS2, and their recommendations on what should be done to address these.

"They set out a range of challenges for the government, local authorities, HS2 Ltd and UK businesses and workers; all of which stand to benefit from HS2.

"The HS2 Growth Taskforce was created in summer 2013 to advise the government on how to maximise the return from the investment in HS2. Members draw on their collective knowledge and experience in business, the public sector and academia, and their direct involvement in major infrastructure projects around the world.

"This report is also based on the evidence they gathered through engagements over the last 6 months in:

• Birmingham
• Manchester
• Loughborough
• Sheffield
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• London."

"David Higgins launches his vision for HS2"

Link to PDF file

"The new chairman of HS2 Ltd, David Higgins, has published his review of the project, including his thoughts on the progress made so far, its ongoing development, and his plans for the future."

Plus:

Link to slides

Plus:

Government response

Evening Standard: "House prices show first signs of 'Crossrail Effect'"

Link to web site

"First evidence of the 'Crossrail Effect' on the price of new homes was discovered on Monday, after clambering into an £80 million concrete box in Woolwich.

"The submerged chamber at Royal Arsenal is 256 metres long, capacious enough to embrace a falling skyscraper, and designed as the perfect fit for a Crossrail station. The stop will cut the journey time to Bond Street to 21 minutes from 45.

" 'Prices have risen from £450 per square foot to £550 since last June, when it was announced the station would be built into our box," says John Anderson, chairman of Berkeley Group’s East Thames division. His remarks came after a descent to platform level and a tour of the 85-acre former munitions site, which holds 2000 homes, with space for 3000 more."

Kensington & Chelsea: Kensal Portabello Crossrail station

Link to web site

"The Crossrail service, when completed in 2017/18, will travel on the existing railway tracks which run through the Kensal Gasworks site.

"Whilst no station is currently proposed, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) have been leading a public campaign for 'Kensal Portobello' station. The Mayor of London stated in 2009 that he would support a Crossrail station, provided it can be delivered on time, not disrupt rail performance, and prove economically viable.

"All thee conditions have now been met, so we're asking the Mayor and the Department for Transport to look again at the proposals.

"In previously rejecting the station, the Department for Transport reiterated the Government's aspiration to use Old Oak Common for an HS2 hub, implicitly suggesting this negates the need for Crossrail on the Gasworks site. However, there is nothing to stop both sites coming forward, and in rejecting a Crossrail station on the Gasworks site the Government will substantially reduce the development potential of the site, resulting in fewer homes being built and fewer jobs being created.

"The Gasworks site is located in the north of RBKC, adjacent to the Grand Union Canal. It consists of the now disused Kensal Gasworks, a Sainsbury's supermarket and a former Eurostar depot. Kensal is very disconnected, however it is the most densely populated area on the Crossrail route, as well as being the most deprived area on the route outside of East London."

EXHIBITION:

• Thursday 6th March
  Sainsbury's, Canal Way, Ladbroke Grove
  4pm - 7pm


• Friday 7th March
  Portobello Road Market
  All day


• Wednesday 12th March
  Sainsbury's, Canal Way, Ladbroke Grove
  4pm - 7pm

LB of Hammersmith & Fulham: "Hammersmith Flyunder" briefing

Hammersmith Flyunder

TfL images: The Wormwood Scrubs Loop

(Looking along Old Oak Common Lane - yellow arrow above)

Londonist: "Crossrail: A First Train Ride"

"Geoff Marshall manages to get a train ride through a Crossrail tunnel, four years before the line opens to the public."

High Speed Two's time-line. (Er, that's it.)

Surveyor: "Hammersmith 'flyunder' plans could be self-financing, council claims"

Link to web site

"Replacing the Hammersmith Flyover with a tunnel could take just three years and in theory might be self financing by releasing around £1bn worth of former highway land, according to the local council's latest study.

"Hammersmith and Fulham LBC’s ‘flyunder’ feasibility study - developed in partnership with Halcrow engineers - has produced three possible options for replacing the elevated section of the A4. The plans vary from being 1 mile to 2.5 miles long and costing between £218m and £1.7bn.

"The council has long been campaigning to replace the aging structure, with the calls increasing in volume in recent years due to the flyover being plagued by lane closures since the Christmas of 2011 when structural weaknesses caused by water damage necessitated major repair works."

SaveOurScrubs: "There's a TfL option we like and want to get behind"

Link to web site

"TfL have shown us three options for the railway station combination around the Old Oak Common (OOC) interchange.

"The good news is that there’s one option which looks good to us for lots of reasons.

"The bad news is that we’ll have to keep fighting to get that one accepted - their preferred option [shown above] continues to be one that takes a big chunk out of the NW corner of the Scrubs."

Independent: "Bombardier wins £1bn Crossrail contract"

Link to web site

"Bombardier has won a £1 billion contract to supply trains for the Crossrail project in a boost for UK manufacturing, the government has announced.

"The contract covers the supply, delivery and maintenance of 65 new trains and the construction of a depot at Old Oak Common in London.

"The deal is set to create 760 jobs and 80 apprenticeships. When fully operational, the depot will provide 80 jobs to maintain the new fleet of trains. Each train will be 200 metres long with capacity for up to 1,500 passengers."

Angela Bray MP: "EATAG - Ealing Acton Transport Action Group"

Link to web site

"Angie has chaired two meetings of her local transport group, EATAG, in the last few weeks to coincide with the consultation on plans for the new Crossrail station at Ealing Broadway and the HS2 Environment Statement consultation.

"At the first meeting, representatives from the Wells House Road Residents' Association (WHR RA) took the opportunity to put questions to representatives from HS2, TfL and Ealing Council about their response to the ongoing HS2 Environment Statement consultation.

"Wells House Road stands to be perhaps the most affected road in Angie's constituency if HS2 - which would include a new station at Old Oak Common - goes ahead as planned."

GetWestLondon: "New rail route could link Hounslow with central London and the north"

"Hounslow Council to petition for a rail link between Hounslow and the proposed Crossrail and HS2 hub at Old Oak Common, providing speedy connections to central London and north England"

Link to web site

"The fight for a new rail route linking Hounslow with central London and north England [and Hendon Thameslink and the RAF Museum!] has been taken up by Hounslow Council.

"Civic Centre chiefs are petitioning for a link between Hounslow and the proposed Crossrail and HS2 hub at Old Oak Common, in Shepherd's Bush.

"They claim the route would lead to a 'step change' in public transport provision and promote regeneration in the borough, particularly along the Golden Mile business district in Brentford."

Municipal Dreams: "The Old Oak Estate: ‘That line of beauty which Hogarth said was in a curve’"

Link to web site

"Imagine a Hampstead Garden Suburb built for working people. Better still, if you’re in London take the Tube and get off at Acton East, and visit the Old Oak Estate where you’ll find just such an estate.

"... Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities of To-morrow was published in 1898. The Fabian Society published Cottage Plans and Common Sense – Raymond Unwin’s manifesto addressing how municipalities might best ‘provide for the Housing of the People’ – in 1902. Unwin would be appointed Architect and Surveyor of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust in 1906.

These currents all directly influenced the Old Oak Estate. And, in fact, one of the LCC architects responsible for the design of the Estate was Archibald Stuart Soutar, the brother of – and sometime collaborator with – JCS Soutar, who replaced Unwin in Hampstead in 1914."

LB of Ealing: "Architects appointed to improve Crossrail stations' design"

"Ealing Council has appointed world-renowned architects HOK and John McAslan and partners to improve the design of the proposed Ealing Broadway and Southall Crossrail stations.

"... The council has been working closely with Crossrail on the emerging designs for all five stations in Ealing and has already secured some significant improvements to the interior designs for Ealing Broadway, including lifts so that the station is fully accessible, as well as the adaption of designs so that retail premises are better located within the station.

"The council recognises this is a difficult site, because the station is not free-standing, built underneath the Villiers House office tower and is hemmed in by other buildings. However, the council is unhappy with the plans for the exterior of the station, and believes that the façade and entrance need to have a more innovative design and use more interesting materials."