Latest news

Photo credit to http://www.dezeen.com/ London’s health and safety spotlight is on cycle safety. Cyclists in a city as busy as London run a risk – the streets are chokablock with vehicles and commuters are often in a hurry. This is not a new concern and will only become increasingly important as the population of London continues…

I got my hands on one of these thermal imaging cameras and can’t help to find out how it works on my colleagues 😉 We at the Innovation Team are currently setting up further trials using thermal imaging cameras and will be procuring the iPhone claded version (FLIR ONE). Do you have more ideas in relation to…

The Innovation Programme together with the Chief Engineers Group organised a lecture by Prof Tong Sun and Prof Ken Grattan of City University London at 25 Canada Square, on 7th April 2015.  The lecture was well attended by designers and tunnel engineers with representatives from CEG, C121, C310 and C510. Prof Tong Sun’s presentation touched on…

As my first ‘blog’ in my role as Crossrail Innovation Programme Manager, I hope to start some discussion and knowledge sharing around the topic of Health and Safety on site. Last week, Simon Wright and the Programme Leadership Team presented on the Programme and its priorities for 2015/16, and re-emphasised Crossrail’s belief that we all…

It’s exciting times for the Innovation team.  We’ve just completed our winter investment assessments, and we have a number of new projects which have now been approved by the Crossrail Innovation Forum.  You’ll hear more about these over the next few months, but here’s a quick summary. INV00324 – Fibre optic monitoring of SCL Phase…

The start of the year has heralded a significant milestone and new experiences for the Innovate18 programme. Not only do we have a new team which has integrated itself very well around the project (as well as with itself – despite me being the old hand!), we have had a very successful evaluation round (more…

We are used to receiving a great range of fantastic ideas and innovations here at Innovate18. However, what really has a major impact on Crossrail is the replication of ideas that other sites have discovered – “Pinch with Pride!”. These benefits not only translate to the sites, but also help to raise the understanding and…

After 3 years as the Strategic Projects Manager and Innovation Programme Manager, Tim DeBarro will be leaving Crossrail to return to Nichols Group on 23rd January 2015. Tim’s achievements include a key role in ensuring that Old Oak Common was able to be handed over to Bombardier / Vinci on time. However, his most significant…

I wanted to let everyone know that I will be leaving Crossrail today to take on a new assignment with my parent company, Nichols Group at Transport for London. I have enjoyed over three years on the project and will miss the Crossrail team. I have been lucky enough to get involved in some challenging…

On Wednesday evening the Crossrail innovation programme co-hosted a seminar with Imperial College London to share the outcomes of innovative uses of excavated London Clay extracted from the Eastern Tunnelling operations. Guests from across industry and academia attended including, representatives from Lafarge Tarmac, BRE, University College London and Laing O’Rourke. Philip Owens and Richard Boarder…