Crossrail Station design exhibition
Explaining how Crossrail can improve the quality of travel in London at the launch of the Crossrail Station Design Exhibition.
Rail Minister Theresa Villiers was joined by London Mayor Boris Johnson when they attended the launch of the Crossrail Station Design Exhibition, hosted by Crossrail and New London Architecture. The exhibition provides a glimpse of what Crossrail will look like in the future.
Crossrail Station design exhibition
Transcript
Narrator: Rail Minister Theresa Villiers attended the launch of the Crossrail Station Design Exhibition being hosted by Crossrail and New London Architecture. The exhibition provides a glimpse of what Crossrail will look like in the future. But these new stations will be far more than iconic architecture for London’s travellers, as Theresa Villiers explains.
Theresa Villiers, Minister of State for Transport: I think we’ve seen some great designs here at this exhibition today (18 November 2010). I think they can really have a dramatic effect on the, sort of, quality of the travel experience in London; we’re really getting a glimpse of how Crossrail can change the way we travel in London and also produce some really significant regeneration benefits for the areas immediately around the Crossrail stations, as well as, on top of, the overall benefits that the project as a whole delivers for the capital and for the UK economy.
Narrator: Importantly, as Mayor Boris Johnson is keen to point out, these new stations will be catalysts for growth in their local area.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London: We’re going to create urban spaces where people are going to collect and meet, shop, and thereby, of course, we’re going to drive economic growth - because a lot of this is about taking Crossrail and leveraging it to drive economic growth.
Narrator: Crossrail is a project of national significance, which will benefit not only London but the country as a whole.
Theresa Villiers: Crossrail will bring very significant benefits to the whole of the UK economy - the benefits will be felt well beyond the capital in generating growth and jobs. That’s one of the reasons why Crossrail has been given the go-ahead.
Narrator: Analysis suggests that alongside the core transport benefits, Crossrail could generate up to £50 billion of wider economic benefits to the UK GDP and facilitate the creation of up to 30,000 jobs across London. The Crossrail station exhibition runs until 8 September at New London Architecture, the Building Centre in Store Street, London.