Crossrail project: engineering design management on the Elizabeth line, London

Summary

This paper describes the design management for the central tunnelled section of the £14·8 billion Crossrail project to deliver the Elizabeth line east-west railway across London. It explains why the processes, procedures and areas of responsibilities of the designers and employer needed to be robust and resilient to cope with the levels of design change experienced at all stages of the project. In particular, it shows how the size and procurement of design packages required careful management of numerous interfaces and the challenges this posed.