Threats to City of London buildings and markets

Crossrail: City of London will fight threats to integrity of its buildings and markets.

The City of London Corporation is one of Crossrail's strongest supporters but it fears that the fabric of the City and its environment will be unnecessarily and injuriously affected by the works set out in the first schedule of the Crossrail Bill.

In its petition to the House of Commons, the Corporation is asking for a wide range of measures to mitigate the impact of building an underground railway in this intensely developed and immensely valuable area of London.

The City's petition foresees that tunnelling operations on the alignment currently proposed could give rise to settlement or heave causing damage to some or all of the 68 buildings in which the corporation has an interest.

These include a number of properties in London's West End, the Smithfield and Billingsgate markets and the Grade II listed Barbican Estate considered to be significantly at risk.

Grade II buildings are buildings of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them.

The proposal currently is to create a cavern immediately below the Barbican Estate to house the railway crossover.

This scheme is taken up by the Barbican Association which contends that the crossover is not operationally necessary for Crossrail, neither is it correctly located, nor can it be constructed safely and without undue settlement.

The association's petition draws attention to the environmental statement accompanying the Bill which discloses that an alternative design has been identified offering a better engineering solution.

Taking the form of a floating slab-track, this is said to be acceptable provided that ground-borne operational noise would not exceed a specified level.

If the crossover must be retained at its present location, the association's petition asks that the Secretary of State should be required to adopt the alternative design.

From the standpoint of the association, representing the interests of some 2,000 flat holders, that would in their view remove the need for the proposed worksite bordering the Barbican Estate.

Concert Hall acoustics at risk.

In these objections the Barbican Association is joined by the City Corporation, concerned not only about residential accommodation but the effect that construction of the rail crossover would have on the Barbican Concert Hall, two theatres, an art gallery, library and two schools, all of which are particularly sensitive to additional noise.

The City's petition reads: "The Hall currently benefits from excellent acoustics, with a noise rating level of NR18".

"This is the result of careful design work and considerable expenditure by your petitioners over the years, Preserving the acoustic quality of the Hall is of very great importance to your petitioners as such a noise rating is specified by recording companies and sought by top class orchestras and performers for practice and performance".

The City is asking that an engineering solution to reduce noise and vibrations from the railway should be agreed with the corporation, also that they be indemnified if the agreed solutions are not sufficient to maintain the quality of the hall's acoustics.

The corporation is making objections similar to those of Canary Wharf about the proposals in Schedule 6 for compulsory acquisition of land to provide worksites.

It rejects as inconsistent with the environmental statement and as unnecessary the taking of powers to acquire a number of sites permanently.

The proposals causing most concern are those that would take over sites at Farringdon, Smithfield, Barbican, Finsbury Circus and Billingsgate.

The City believes that each of these proposals would be more appropriate if transferred to Schedule 5, temporary possession and use.

The Bill proposes that there should be 11 worksites within or in close proximity to the City of London.

The corporation has grave concerns about the fate of Smithfield's meat market should part of the basement of the East Market building and its access ramp succumb to compulsory acquisition.

Both this building and its companion West Market building are listed Grade II*, that is, particularly important buildings of more than special interest.

They were built during the 19th century of wrought and cast iron, and are especially vulnerable to differential settlement and vibrations.

"Your petitioners fear that the proposed removal of the mezzanine floor to create a worksite will present a substantial risk to the entire structure unless appropriate bracing arrangements are installed".

"Your petitioners are therefore concerned that no engineering proposal has yet been produced describing how the works described in the environmental statement can be undertaken while safeguarding the integrity of the building".

The City is asking that a requirement should be imposed on the nominated undertaker to produce an engineering proposal that would protect the integrity of the building as well as facilitate continued operation of the market.

In addition to the stability of the building, this proposal will need to address the relocation of the market's plant rooms, and the diversion of the pipes and cables from the combined heat and power station in Charterhouse Street while securing the uninterrupted operation of the market.

The market also needs to be shielded from noise, dust and vibration to ensure that it continues to meet statutory hygiene and health requirements.

The petition comments that as proposed in the Bill, the number of worksites in close proximity to Smithfield Market is such as to pose a threat to access by traders and customers as well as to hygiene and safety standards.

On the Aldersgate Street worksite proposal, the City Corporation agrees with the Barbican Association that if the alternative engineering approach were adopted, the slab could be installed without the need for this worksite.

The City's petition points out that the proposal of the promoter would have a concrete batching plant running on the site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The site would at least need to be enclosed to mitigate the serious impacts of noise, dust and vibration.

Worksite at City's oldest open space.

The Secretary of State also by Schedule 6 proposes to acquire compulsorily part of the gardens at Finsbury Circus, one of the oldest defined public open spaces in the United Kingdom.

This will also meet strong objections from the City which is insisting that if the land must be taken as a worksite it should be for temporary possession and use only.

As to Billingsgate Market, adjacent to the new Isle of Dogs station, the City says that the proposed compulsory acquisition of a large proportion of the market's car parking space would very seriously affect this business.

In addition, the loss of car parking revenue could result in the market ceasing to be viable".

""The proposals in the Bill would result in the market being almost completely surrounded by construction work." As at Canary Wharf, each of these land take-overs would not only be disruptive but very expensive.

Both the corporations involved being strongly sympathetic to the project, it is a wonder that something more amicable and cheaper could not have been worked out with the Department for Transport in advance of the Bill being presented.

As things are, the Bill's provisions threaten to be hard fought both in the Commons and the Lords.

If they go through they will add enormously to the cost.

When the Secretary of State mentioned a figure of GBP15 billion upwards for Crossrail, presumably he meant the construction cost.

Nothing has yet been said about the cost of land acquisition which is bound to be sky-high under these proposals.

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