This was the scene at Canary Wharf two years as building work began at Crossrail's first
station.
Three, two, one -- go!
Underground work is almost finished and they are now getting ready for the arrival of the
tunnel boring machines next summer.
Nearly 100 million litres of water have been taken away -- that's about 40 Olympic sized
swimming pools.
300,000 tonnes of material has been excavated and 375,000 of concrete was poored into the
site almost 30 metres below the North Dock in Canary Wharf.
It just reinforces the huge scale of the project here.
I'm delighted to be informed that it's very much on time, on budget.
And I know that this is going to be a tremendous facility for Londoner's once it's completed
and it's going to give a real economic boost because it's going to enable Canary Wharf
to grow and to create more jobs.
To think two years ago this would have been under the dock itself, the guys have really
worked well.
It's something to be immensley proud of and when it's fitted out it'll look different
again.
It's size is three football pitches, it's built in a dock and it's right next door to
the high-rise buildings of Canary Wharf.
All special challenges for the builders -- Canary Wharf Contractors Ltd.
They've had to use unusual methods including a silent hydraulic technique called 'Giken',
first developed in Japan and new to the UK.
It kept the noise down as they built the dam.
The station shell itself has been built top-down.
You have to be careful with innovation, because you can go for innovation for innovations
sake and that doesn't actually deliver anything.
What we're very particularly proud of here is that the innovation delivered something
special.
It gave us a programme advantage, it reduced the risk, it made the working easier.
You can see that this box is in fact wide open.
Well traditionally that would have bracing across it so movement of cranes, piling rigs
around that slab would be very difficult in an excavation of this size.
We have some of the biggest contractors, big time UK contractors and european contractors
on our project delivering the tunnels and the stations.
Now it's our job to let these guys do what they do best to really build some of this
comlpex construction that we're doing.
It's a spectacular feat of engineering.
I know that the team here have used a lot of innovative techniques to reduce cost as
well.
A lot of effort has gone into delivering value for money on this project, which is always
hugely welcome, particularly at a time when the public finances are under strain.
In September 2009 barges started to take excavated materials from the site down to the Thames
where it's being used to make a new area of public land in Pitsea, Essex.
In early 2010 they finished the cofferdam, made up of nearly 300 steel piles.
That meant water could be pumped from the dock at a rate of 800,000 litres an hour.
That left a dry site.
Excavations began last March and by November work started on the station box itself.
Now the box is almost finished, just where the tunnel boring machines will break through.
Eventually, 12 trains an hour will emerge through here.
Over the next two years it will turn from really a basically civil engineering project
to a fitting out or more of a building project.
That's when we'll be turning it from this concrete shell to what I would call a shell
and core delivery to Crossrail for them then to come in and fit in all the specialist systems
that turn it from a building into a railway station.
The station has been designed working closely with the local community, including Tower
Hamlets Borough and the Commission for Architecture in the Built Environment (CABE).
It will look like a ship moored in the dock.
The station box will sit under shops, a park, restaurants and local space.
From the wooden lattice roof, which is left partially open to the air, you'll be able
to see over the dock to Canary Wharf and beyond.
Once it opens in 2018, 25 million passengers will go through the station every year.
They'll take less time to get to the rest of London, including the West End in just
10 minutes.
It's going to be a significant uplift for the capital's rail capacity.
That is essential in terms of jobs and growth in Canary Wharf and elsewhere.
The idea of connecting up Heathrow with much better rail connections to the City will also
be tremendously important, and it takes a huge amount of pressure off the London Underground
routes.
Really I think this project is essential if we're going to keep London moving and keep
it's economy growing.