Have Your Say On Our Plans For Kennington Park Head House And Landscaping
Transport for London have asked for comments on their plans for the Kennington Park Head House for the Northern Line Extension.
This picture is from their consultation.
What surprises me is the scale. If you compare this head house for some of those of Crossrail, the Jubilee and the Voctoria Line , they seem larger and more intrusive.
This is a visualisation of Crossrail’s shaft in Mile End Park.
Mile End Park Ventilation Shaft
This is the actual Jubilee Line head house at Durant’s Wharf.
And this is the Victoria Line head house in Gibson Square.
It should be noted that the Durant’s Wharf and Gibson Square structures are for ventilation only.
But even so, I think that a better design for the Kennington Park Head House can be created.
Where are the curves for a start?
Crossrail 2 Consultation – Wandsworth Common Shaft
This Crossrail document is entitled Wimbledon to Clapham Junction.
If contains a small section about a proposed shaft that will be built at Wandsworth Common. It says this about the two shafts between Clapham Junction and Wimbledon.
Between Wimbledon and Balham stations – one shaft in the Weir Road site and another within the Springfield Hospital development
Between Balham and Clapham Junction stations – one shaft on the eastern edge of Wandsworth Common, at the end of Honeywell Road.
A single worksite would be required to build each shaft and a typical shaft would take approximately five years to complete. Activity on site would fluctuate during this period. Once the site has been cleared and prepared, the major construction work to dig out the shaft would usually be complete within two years
This map from the Crossrail 2 document shows the position of the shaft at Wandsworth Common.
Wandsworth Common Shaft Site
This is a map of the rail lines as they pass the site.
Between Clapham Junction And Wandsworth Common Stations
The shaft will be at the position, where the Google Map has the Wandsworth Common legend. The Crossrail 2 document says this.
The shaft would be on the eastern edge of Wandsworth Common, at the end of Honeywell Road (off Bolingbroke Grove). Our current preferred site has been selected because it is the only non-residential piece of land in the area which is large enough to allow construction of a shaft.
This morning I walked from Clapham Junction station at the top of the map to Wandsworth Common station at the bottom and took these pictures.
Most of my thoughts are in the comments for the pictures, but I would also add the following.
- The site of the shaft seems to have been chosen with care, so that no mature trees are affected. It’s all flat grass.
- I have a feeling that for Health and Safety reasons the designers like shafts in large open spaces. Crossrail trains hold 1,500 passengers. Evacuating them into Wandsworth Common or Mile End Park would be easier than say bringing them up in the City.
- Information appears to be very preliminary at the moment. That at Wimbledon is more detailed and I would expect more detail on Wandsworth Common in the future.
- I’d never been to Wandsworth Common before and what surprised me most, was that it appeared to be on top of a hill. I have a feeling that this could make the routing of the tunnel less complicated and it could be deeper under all the buildings.
The Head House
People worry, that they’ll get some awful head house on the shaft, like those for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, which look like they were used as defences against Napoleon.
This shows the head house, that Crossrail is building in Mile End Park.
In fact the Mile End Park shaft, with an appropriate head house, would probably be closest to what is proposed to be built at Wandsworth Common.
- It will be a similar size underground.
- As head houses will be here for virtually ever, lots of care is taken in their design.
- They are both in large open spaces.
- They both have good road access on wide roads.
The shaft at Mile End Park was one of several designed by Fereday Pollard. Not all were actually built, as Crossrail cut a few out in the detailed design phase.
Construction
The biggest worry for many is the construction of the shafts.
This Google Map shows the site of the Mile End Park shaft under construction.
Mile End Park Shaft Site
I estimate the work site is around fifty metres across and has been deliberately positioned alongside the road.
The black hole is the actual shaft.
When I wrote How Will Crossrail 2 Affect De Beauvoir Town?, about how Crossrail 2 will affect where I live, I said this.
I’m pretty certain, that the digging of the southern shaft at Site A will be the only major part of the construction, that will affect De Beauvoir Town, as I suspect they’ll have to remove the spoil in a succession of trucks. I estimate there will be about 10,000 cubic metres of spoil to remove to create the hole for the shaft.
As the shaft at Wandsworth Common is probably the same size as that at Dalston, it would mean about a thousand truck loads, spread over the time that the shaft was being dug. Unless, they decide to use conveyors to move the spoil across the Common to the railway. I’m not sure what they did at Mile End, but I haven’t heard of any complaints.
The big difference between Wandsworth Common and a lot of the other sites, is that there will be no demolition.
It is a perfect green field site. I doubt there’s any gas mains or power cables across the site.
Conclusions
I think that everybody who lives in South London, will get lots more hassle from the large construction project at Wimbledon, where according to current plans, the station will be completely rebuilt for Crossrail 2.
If I lived near Wandsworth Common, I would start to think now, what would be appropriate for a head house to the shaft, as if cards are played right, then Crossrail 2 will provide it.
Wandsworth might like a temple in a garden.
This was actually built in the 1960s as the head house of a ventilation shaft for the Victoria Line in Gibson Square, Islington.
We need more whimsey!
More Views of the Gibson Square Temple
I put a view up of the temple-like air extract from the Victoria line earlier, when it was still being finished.
It now is and good it looks too.
Why can’t we disguise functional buildings in this excellent manner more often.
Islington’s Hidden Temple
Walk through the back-streets of Islington and tucked away in Gibson Square, you’ll find this curious building in the garden in the middle.
A Curious Building in Gibson Square
So what is it?
The clue is in the roof, as it doesn’t look like the wire mesh would keep the rain and weather out.
But then that isn’t necessary as it is the ventilation shaft for the Victoria line.
The shaft was built in 1970 and has recently been updated to improve the cooling of the line for passengers.
The Anonymous Widower 