Crossrail Place

If you have missed the last decade, Crossrail, aka the Elizabeth Line, is a completely new 73-mile railway line. It routes east to west across London, and once completed it is predicted over 200 million people will use it annually.

The 60 miles of track starts further east than Stratford, and runs all the way through central London, passing Canary Wharf on its way. The Elizabeth line will eventually reach as far west as Heathrow Airport and Reading. 

As of 2021, opening plans have been hit by multiple delays, with the current forecast for the full service to open in 2023. 

Despite this, Crossrail Place at Canary Wharf has been completed for several years now and provides a huge range of facilities from public spaces to bars and restaurants.

Here we take a look at the Crossrail Place development, and look at what the future transport connection means for Canary Wharf and the wider Isle of Dogs area. 

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A brief history of Crossrail

• Crossrail was first looked into by the London railways as part of future transport planning in 1944!

• Study after study preceded in the following half a century, but the idea never gained mainstream attraction until the early 2000s 

• After publication of the London East West Study at the turn of the millennium, the Strategic  Rail Authority and TFL merged, to create a joint venture named London Cross Rail Links in 2002

• Consultations and debates over routing continued, alongside the necessary legislation in both the House of Commons and House of Lords until 2008

• TFL took full control of Crossrail in 2009, and the modern routing and branding is finalised

• A decade later and after significant technical challenges, due mainly in the central part of the network, Crossrail misses its rescheduled opening date of 2018

• Further Crossrail delays due to testing difficulties, budget overruns and later covid 19 push the opening date back until late 2022. 

Crossrail at Canary Wharf

Construction and cost of Crossrail Place

With Canary Wharf’s DLR and Jubilee line extensions rapidly filling up, the Canary Wharf group lobbied the government intensively to have Crossrail pass via the estate and improve transport links to the area.

As part of the lobbying, the privately owned group agreed to both pay some of the construction cost of the line, and also take on the construction work of the station themselves. 

They recruited world renowned architects Foster and Partners. The two had worked successfully on large transport projects before, with the architect firm previously designing Jubilee Place, Canary wharf’s Jubilee line station. 

The Canary Wharf group agreed to construct the station on behalf of TFL at a fixed cost of £200m. Any delays or additional costs incurred would fall upon the group themselves. This proved to be a very wise move on behalf of the government, with most of the 36 contracts for constructing the stations running massively over budget.

The next station along, Whitechapel, increased to nearly £700m, over 6 times the original forecasted budget. The Canary Wharf group claim their total contribution to the Crossrail project saved over £800m in taxpayers money. 

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Crossrail Place development

Despite the lack of trains, the remainder of the Crossrail station at Canary Wharf is open and it provides a huge amount of retail and restaurant space. 

• The building is a 5-storey mega structure, appearing to float in West India Dock.
• Surrounded by water, the main access routes are via a futuristic bridge that links up with the northern side of One Canada Square.
• The Crossrail station sits 18m under the water, with 8 escalators taking passengers down to the platform level.

Foster and Partners had a delicate balancing act in designing the building. They needed to meet TFLs construction specifications — all new public infrastructure buildings should have a life of at least 250 years — but they also wanted to distance themselves from the glass and concrete of Canary Wharf.

The building is conceived to mediate between the adjoining worlds of Canary Wharf and the local community – with its different materials and the emphasis on a softer expression and warmer materials.

Norman Foster – Foster and Partners

The resulting Crossrail Place is impressive. Above the subterranean platform level rises 4 storeys of mixed-use commercial, retail and public space. These span a mixture of everything from dentists, cinemas and the famous roof garden.

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4 places to visit at Crossrail Place

1. The famous roof garden

Constructed of 1418 timber beams, the curving latticework roof structure houses Londons largest roof garden. There are a huge assortment of plants from around the globe, with illuminated walkways through the garden.

The roof itself is partially open to the air, providing irrigation for some of the plants, but also partially closed and insulated to let more tropical specimens thrive. In these area where a warmer climate is required, plastic air filled cushions are used between the eco friendly beams, to trap the heat.

At either end of the roof garden, there are two large venues at the west and eastern ends, which have been taken by Big Easy and Giant Robot respectively.  

As part of a drive to bridge the gap between the local community and the privately owned estate, Crossrail place garden also has an 80 seat space they offer to community groups and schools from the local area to put on performances.

Keep an eye on the Canary Wharf roof garden website, as they also put on free open-air events events here under the title of Bloom.

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2. Big Easy 

A popular place for steak and lobster, amongst all manner of BBQ, they have utilised the space here well. There is a giant terrace, which is exceptionally popular in the summer with live music. 

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3. Giant Robot

There is always the option to get the food to go, and sit in the luscious roof garden opposite too. 

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4. Everyman Cinema Canary Wharf