Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Following a period of leave, which I mostly spent in a darkened room recovering from the Phase 1 onslaught, I joined the CrossRail project as part of the BamFerrovialKier (BFK) Joint Venture.

Proposed as one of the most significant construction projects ever undertaken in the UK, CrossRail is designed to increase rail capacity in London by 10%, slashing journey times and bringing large areas of regeneration. The route will run over 100km from Maindenhead and Heathrow in the west through to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

The route will incorporate 38 stations, 9 of which will be new builds and a number more will receive signifincant upgrades. Approximately 1.5million people will be brought within 45minutes of central London and the route allignment is designed to connect the city’s key emplyment, leisure and business districts.

The Crossrail Act 2008 formalised CrossRail Plc to act as the ‘client’ and is in effect Transport for London under another name. The scale of the project ensured that separate contracts were let which defined discrete elements of the overall build. The construction program in outline is shown here, if you’re having trouble sleeping, so I won’t go into it any further!

Crossrail let a number of contracts to the BFK JV which largely comprised work at 4 locations: Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road and Farringdon stations, aswell as an maintenance and emergency escape shaft at Fisher Street (where Mike Burton made his name!) bfk stations

In outline, and very basically, the contracts hierarchy is as follows Contractual Relationships. The contracts are all NEC3 forms of contract which offer inherent protection to the many small contractors which work for BFK. The contractual relationship with CrossRail Plc, acting as the client is ‘target cost’, but one in which CrossRail has added a number of ‘Z’ Clauses which make it one of the most onerous that the QS team here has seen. According to the Kerry, the AQS here BFK have taken it on the chin in order to secure the contract, but it is looking highly likely that they will make a loss come the end of the project. As an aside, Kerry is not only a commercial ninja, she is also devastatingly attractive. Whilst Greg is clearly a ruggedly handsome man, I am suddenly very interested in the contractual considerations of the CrossRail project……  

Coming right down to my level, at the coalface, I’ve been attached to the Sprayed Concrete Lining (SCL) team in the Head Office at Hanover Square. SCL will be used to stabilise the ground around the platform tunnels, cross tunnels and main concourses at each station location. Sprayed concrete is a mixture of cement, aggregate, admixtures, accelerators and water projected at high velocity from a nozzle which will produce a mass directly applied to the substrate. For the CrossRail tunnels, a number of layers will be sprayed, which include a primary and secondary later, regulating layers and waterproofing. Each layer is dictated by a different specification and a bespoke mix must be developed tested and endorsed by CrossRail.

Astonishingly, these mix designs aren’t yet in place with the exception of the primary layer. The ‘Eye of Sauron’ has turned on the massively undergunned SCL team, who I think are hoping that I may be their saviour. Little do they realise that I was too busy shovelling Mrs Hoopers home baking into my face to pay much attention to the concrete lectures. Sorry Richard!

So my role will intially comprise of running the concrete testing procedures in order to get the Material Compliance Reports endorsed ahead of spraying the secondary lining. Look forward to some good TMR fodder related to why the mixes are repeatedly failing due to low fibre content, and poor flexural strength. Following the acceptance, I’ll be managing the spraying at Tottenham Court Road ahead of moving down to Farringdon later in the year.