Over half of diesel machinery fitted with emissions reducing technology, close to 100% of construction and demolition waste recycled, all tunnels achieving CEEQUAL “excellent” rating.
London’s £14.8bn Crossrail development is on track to meet its ambitious sustainability targets, according to figures in the latest annual performance review for April 2012-13.
Crossrail’s second annual sustainability report found that 56% of diesel machinery used on the project’s 45 work sites has been fitted with diesel emission controlling technology to reduce harmful emissions, including filters retrofitted to older machinery. Similar to the Olympics, Crossrail included a contractual requirement for contractors to adopt diesel emission controls and is now exploring how it can increase uptake.
Crossrail managed to achieve 32% recycled content by value last year, well above the target of 15% and a “stretch” target of 20%. In addition, close to 100% of demolition waste was usefully reused and 91% of soil, excavated to create tunnels and shafts, was sent to help create a wildlife reserve and recreational sites at Wallasea Island in the Thames estuary.
Wallasea Island has received its millionth tonne of excavated earth
Wallasea Island has just reached a major milestone, receiving its millionth tonne of excavated earth as part of one of the biggest movements of earth out of central London since the Edwardian construction of the Piccadilly underground line. Crossrail will ship a total of around 4m tonnes of earth to the site in Essex. The majority of the earth is being transported via rail and ship from central London to Wallasea Island to avoid more than 200,000 additional lorry movements.
All tunnels, transit portals and shafts linking the underground to surface levels have gained a Civil Engineering Environmental Quality (CEEQUAL) “excellent” rating at client and interim design stage. The “excellent” rating was also awarded to the project’s first completed structure, the Royal Oak portal.
In addition, the Crossrail Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy received a BREEAM “excellent” environmental assessment rating, and all Crossrail stations in central London assessed during 2012-2013 passed the design stage assessment and are all targeted for a BREEAM rating of “very good”. The design assessment for Abbey Wood station in east London also puts it on target for a “very good” rating.
Crossrail also reaped rewards in terms of economic sustainability last year. The report found that more than three in five (62%) of businesses winning work were based outside London and over half (58%) were SMEs. In 2012/13 Crossrail’s supply chain supported the equivalent of 13,800 full-time jobs across the UK, 8,310 of which were outside of London. Over the course of the project, it is estimated that Crossrail and its supply chain will create at least 75,000 business opportunities and support the equivalent of 55,000 full-time jobs across the country.
The scope of the 2012-2013 sustainability report is broader than the first report, which concentrated on the central section in London. Last year brought a significant increase in works on the section of Crossrail to the west of London, particularly on the Stockley Park flyover and Acton dive-under.
