Crossrail Bulletin. First tunnel portal completed early ISSUE. Crossing the Capital Connecting the UK

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Tamsyn Casey
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1 Crossrail Bulletin FREEPOST CROSSRAIL ISSUE 24 Nov 2011 Crossing the Capital Connecting the UK First tunnel portal completed early We have reached our first tunnelling milestone, the completion of Royal Oak Portal. The portal, the first of five on the Crossrail route, was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Royal Oak Portal has been built within a narrow corridor west of Paddington, bordered by the A40 Westway and the Hammersmith & City line and Network Rail lines. Just 21 metres at its widest point and one kilometre in length, getting the logistics right in terms of workers, materials and machinery was critical for success. The works comprised the building of a massive 285 metre long ramp structure that will take the Crossrail tracks from ground-level down into the underground tunnels. At the deepest end of the ramp, a concrete headwall was constructed with a pair of 7.24m diameter tunnel eyes. The eyes mark the exact location where the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) will commence tunnelling. They have an important role in supporting the tunnel opening when the TBMs break through the headwall. Over 25,000 m3 of ground was excavated to construct the portal with the excavated material reused at construction sites in London. Work is now underway to prepare the site for the launch of the TBMs next spring. The TBMs, weighing around 850 tonnes and measuring up to 120 metres long, will dig Crossrail s tunnels under London towards Farringdon. This will be followed by the launch of further TBMs in the east to construct the remaining tunnels for the new Crossrail service. The completed tunnel portal at Royal Oak.

Bird sanctuary takes off Over six million cubic metres of material will be excavated during the construction of Crossrail. Almost all of this will be contaminant-free and ready to be reused.

5 million tonnes of excavated material to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) for the Wallasea Island Wild Coast project, a landmark conservation and engineering scheme, on a scale

The Wallasea project will combat the threats of climate change and coastal fl ooding by recreating ancient wetland landscape, compensate for tidal habitat loss elsewhere in England and provide a

2 Bird sanctuary takes off Over six million cubic metres of material will be excavated during the construction of Crossrail. Almost all of this will be contaminant-free and ready to be reused. Work is now underway at Wallasea Island bird sanctuary and at our logistics hub to prepare for the arrival of this beneficial resource. We will provide around 4.5 million tonnes of excavated material to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) for the Wallasea Island Wild Coast project, a landmark conservation and engineering scheme, on a scale never before attempted in the UK. The Wallasea project will combat the threats of climate change and coastal fl ooding by recreating ancient wetland landscape, compensate for tidal habitat loss elsewhere in England and provide a haven for wildlife including birds, seals and water voles. Work has begun on a new jetty at Wallasea Island, on the Essex coast, where ships will offl oad Crossrail excavated material to build the new 1,500 acre wetland nature reserve. We have also begun transforming a disused cement works in Northfl eet, Kent, into a temporary logistics hub to receive, store and transfer Crossrail s excavated material. Northfl eet is an ideal location for our hub because it is on the River Thames which enables us to transport excavated material to Wallasea Island and other regeneration projects via ship. Reinstating an old freight link from the National Rail network and installing 4.75km of new track into the site is also underway. This link will allow us to move material from Crossrail s western tunnels (Royal Oak to Farringdon) to Northfl eet by rail. Using rail and removing excavated material through our tunnels reduces the need for Crossrail lorries to use London s busy streets. The fi rst ships will arrive at Wallasea Island next summer. TUCA welcomes fi rst students The UK s first Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA) has welcomed its first students. Located at Ilford in east London, TUCA aims to address the shortage of people with the necessary skills to work on Crossrail and other tunnelling projects in London, the UK and Europe. The current training courses to be offered at the Academy include the Tunnel Safety Card, a prerequisite for anyone who will work below ground on Crossrail, and Construction Skills Certifi cation Scheme health and safety card training. Vocational courses initially on offer are pre-cast concrete manufacture and tunnel operations training. Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy. A variety of other vocational training courses will begin to be offered over the coming months, increasing the number of students attending the new campus. Tunnelling plant and machinery including a static tunnel boring machine and a simulated tunnel environment, will arrive at the Academy soon. The Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy will offer training to at least 3,500 people over the lifetime of the Crossrail project. Crossrail Bulletin November 2011

Living walls Crossrail s first living walls have been installed around our worksite in Finsbury Circus Gardens.

They will also improve the look of our worksite and benefit biodiversity by providing new wildlife habitats. Living walls will be grown around other Crossrail sites soon.

The living walls act like a breathing, photosynthesizing skin and consist of plants that thrive in the urban environment.

The walls are maintained through a build-in irrigation system that uses soil-free technology to receive water and nutrients from vertical supports rather than the ground.

Prehistoric bones uncovered Animal bones, possibly hundreds of thousands of years old, have been uncovered during excavations for our tunnel portal at Royal Oak.

Bison and Deer have also been found within soils that have fi lled in a Pleistocene river channel.

Erosion is likely to have washed the animal remains into the channel, preserving them for thousands of years. Auroch bones discovered at Royal Oak.

3 Living walls Crossrail s first living walls have been installed around our worksite in Finsbury Circus Gardens. These vertical gardens will help improve air quality by reducing dust, pollen and carbon dioxide levels. They will also improve the look of our worksite and benefit biodiversity by providing new wildlife habitats. Living walls will be grown around other Crossrail sites soon. If you would like to sponsor a living wall please contact art@crossrail.co.uk. The living walls act like a breathing, photosynthesizing skin and consist of plants that thrive in the urban environment. The walls also help to purify the air and transform the worksite boundary. The gardens mimic the action that plants use to grow vertically on cliffs, branches or along waterfalls. The walls are maintained through a build-in irrigation system that uses soil-free technology to receive water and nutrients from vertical supports rather than the ground. Living walls will contribute towards The Mayor of London s plan to reduce PM10 airbourne particle pollution by a third by Crossrail s living wall at Finsbury Circus. Prehistoric bones uncovered Animal bones, possibly hundreds of thousands of years old, have been uncovered during excavations for our tunnel portal at Royal Oak. The remains identifi ed include those of the Auroch (a now extinct, large ancestor of modern cattle). Bison and Deer have also been found within soils that have fi lled in a Pleistocene river channel. The soil sequence shows that the river channel fi lled during a warm period in the last ice age. Erosion is likely to have washed the animal remains into the channel, preserving them for thousands of years. Auroch bones discovered at Royal Oak. Some of the bones appear to have small marks on them that may suggest butchery by humans. Scientifi c dating is helping to confi rm whether this is the period of Homo Sapiens or their ancestors Homo Neanderthalis (50, ,000 years ago) and Homo Heidelbergensis (350, ,000 years ago). Simon Parfi tt, a specialist from the National History Museum, visited the site to study the fi nds: This is a really exciting fi nd. Our entire knowledge of early prehistoric human activity, zoology and environment comes from a small number of sites such as this. Apart from the range of animal species present, environmental samples can help recreate the landscape. Any evidence of humans in these periods will be very precious indeed. The bones are now being studied before they are incorporated into the museum s permanent collection. Crossrail Bulletin November 2011

All donations great and small Crossrail is donating unwanted materials of all shapes and sizes to charities, restoration projects and local training academies so they can be benefi cially reused.

Track for trainees We have donated 300 metres of track, 220 sleepers and a switch and crossing from a disused section of the North London Line to a training academy in Newham.

Preserving heritage Four tonnes of Tudor bricks from our Stepney Green worksite have been donated to English Heritage for restoration projects around the UK.

4 All donations great and small Crossrail is donating unwanted materials of all shapes and sizes to charities, restoration projects and local training academies so they can be benefi cially reused. Four recent donations are highlighted below. Track for trainees We have donated 300 metres of track, 220 sleepers and a switch and crossing from a disused section of the North London Line to a training academy in Newham. The academy, Alpha Building Services and Engineering Training, specialises in training local year-olds in trades including railway apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship skills. Preserving heritage Four tonnes of Tudor bricks from our Stepney Green worksite have been donated to English Heritage for restoration projects around the UK. The bricks originally formed part of Worcester House, a fortifi ed manor constructed by the Marquis of Worcester in Our contractor, Museum of London Archaeology, studied and documented the remains of the house before carefully removing the bricks for donation. A video about our archaeology work at Stepney Green can be found on our website. This has enabled the academy to complete a large section of their outdoor training area enhancing the hands-on learning opportunities that the academy can offer. An archaeologist unearthing the remains of Worcester House. Recycling trees Stepney City Farm s animal and visitor facilities have been enhanced thanks to a donation of logs and wood from its Crossrail neighbour. Trainees begin working with the donated track. Protecting railway heritage The farm has used the wood to create climbing mounds for the animals, insect habitats, benches and stools for the farm café and wood chippings for paths. Some wood was also used in the farm s woodwork and carpentry workshops. A disused 20 th Century footbridge, 200 railway sleepers and 95 metres of track has been donated to Whitwell & Reepham Railway, a heritage railway project in Norfolk. Whitwell & Reepham was once a station on the Midland & Great Northern Railway line - a rival railway to the Great Eastern Railway (GER). It is perhaps a twist of fate that a GER footbridge has ended up helping to restore a station on a rival s railway. Dragados Sisk JV site foreman Declan Wallace presents a log to Jessica Hodge, Manager of Stepney City Farm. keeping communities informed

Building skills Our contractors have been hosting a series of Meet the Contractor events to encourage local businesses to compete for subcontracts on Crossrail.

The Meet the Contractor events are part of a larger plan to communicate opportunities for small and medium sized businesses Example contracts include; security, catering, reptile mitigation and tree

5 Building skills Our contractors have been hosting a series of Meet the Contractor events to encourage local businesses to compete for subcontracts on Crossrail. We have also been holding career information days to connect local people to the employment opportunities on the project. The Meet the Contractor events are part of a larger plan to communicate opportunities for small and medium sized businesses Example contracts include; security, catering, reptile mitigation and tree relocation. We also post opportunities on CompeteFor, a web based portal that matches potential subcontractors with current contractors. For more details see Career information days have recently been held in Whitechapel and Islington to highlight employment opportunities on Crossrail and explain the various skills routes available to work on the project. Representatives from our contractors and the Crossrail Job Brokerage Service, which incorporates Jobcentre Plus and the National Apprenticeship Service, were also on hand to offer advice. A similar event will be held in Redbridge A career information day at Whitechapel. soon. 2.5m skills fund received Crossrail has been awarded 2.5m from the European Social Fund (ESF) to help unemployed local people obtain jobs on the project. Striving for zero waste We are working at industry best practice by reusing or recycling 97% of the material excavated from our sites. Our team working at Limmo Peninsula recently exceeded that target by reusing or recycling an impressive 98% of materials cleared from the site. The team have removed over 120,000 tonnes of excess material from the Limmo site, cleaning up wood, tyres and even half a car. During the recycling process rubber was shredded for use in equestrian arenas, and playgrounds and timber was re-processed and shredded for woodchips using wasteto-energy technology. Local state-of-the-art recycling facilities also helped achieve environmental success,while short transport times and low fuel use also helped to reduce the project s carbon footprint. The recycling targets on Crossrail were developed with the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP). This is the fi rst time that the ESF has allocated funds to a specifi c project and clearly indicates the importance of Crossrail in building a skills legacy for London and the South East. Crossrail will use the fund for pre-employment training including the technical skills needed for people to access jobs. The types of jobs needed for Crossrail include tunnel and construction operatives, logistics and tunnel segment manufacturing. Cleaning up at Limmo Peninsula. keeping communities informed

1,500 drivers steer safety Over fifteen hundred drivers have now been trained on Crossrail s lorry driver safety programme spotlighting how to share London s roads with vulnerable road users.

Hazard perception, causes of collisions and driver health are covered in the course.

6 1,500 drivers steer safety Over fifteen hundred drivers have now been trained on Crossrail s lorry driver safety programme spotlighting how to share London s roads with vulnerable road users. Every lorry driver, regularly working on the construction of Crossrail, must complete the custom-made course designed in consultation with cycling and road safety campaign groups, and the Police. Hazard perception, causes of collisions and driver health are covered in the course. It s just one element of our ongoing programme to ensure that the professional lorry drivers working on Crossrail are safe. We are also working with our contractors to fi t lorries with safety devices like Fresnel lenses and side scan equipment that allows the driver to see into blind spots. An online version of the training will be rolled out later this year. This shorter interactive course is for drivers who infrequently work on Crossrail. It will cover key road safety messages and also act as a refresher course. Up to 4,000 professional drivers will attend the training course throughout the duration of the project and many more will benefi t from the online training. Breaking the code We are using the latest Quick Response (QR) technology to increase the accessibility and speed of finding out information about Crossrail. QR codes operate similarly to barcodes and are scanned with a smart phone application. Scanning this code sends the user directly to our website. Look out for Crossrail s QR code in our publications and on our site hoardings. Crossrail s training is helping to set new industry standards. Contact Information helpdesk (24-hours, 7-days a week) helpdesk@crossrail.co.uk post FREEPOST CROSSRAIL (no postage or address required) website Visitor Information Centres West End St Giles High St, WC2H 8LN Open Tues and Thurs to Whitechapel Idea Store, 321 Whitechapel Rd, E1 1BU Open Mon and Wed to Delivering a world-class affordable railway safely through effective partnerships

Slough International Freight Exchange Proposals, Colnbrook+

Slough International Freight Exchange Proposals, Colnbrook+ Welcome Welcome to this exhibition, which is being held in connection with our proposals for a new freight exchange facility on land to the north of the A4. Please take this opportunity to look at the