Crossrail's ambitious engineering project has become a hotbed of construction innovation. It has pioneered the use of new technologies like drones, BIM, tablets, and sensors to improve efficiency and safety. Through its Innovate18 program, Crossrail funded over 63 trials of innovative ideas and technologies, creating an £800,000 innovation fund. This has accelerated the adoption of technologies like augmented reality smart helmets, wireless sensors, GoPro cameras, and pico projectors across the construction industry. Many innovations tested on Liverpool Street station, like drones for inspections and small projectors for on-site updates, have provided significant time and cost savings.

1. CROSSRAIL: A JOURNEY
FUTURE
Crossrail's legacy will not just be the miles of train track and platforms across London
and the south east. As James Kenny discovers, the project has become a hotbed of
innovation that will serve construction for years to come.
Projects such as Crossrail will leave a deep
most ambitious engineering project has already had a major impact on working practices in
areas such as apprenticeships and procurement.
Another key area where it will have a long
Drones, BIM and tablets, among other technologies, have become more common on site the
last few years, but Crossrail has been a pioneer, pushing the boundaries and adapting
already existing gadgets for construction use, w
the whole built environment sector for years.
A main driver in this innovation and one of the key stations on the Elizabeth line is Liverpool
Street, one of London’s busiest transport hubs.
The £300m station project has become a hotbed of innovation as new technology has been
used and tested on site to keep construction on time and to budget.
Ravi Kugananthan, project engineer, tunnels and platforms for main contractor Laing
O’Rourke, explains how everyday gad
and how some of the solutions and ideas are now being adopted across the construction
industry.
“There are two types of ways you can look at innovation: come up with something
completely new or look at using existing technology and adapt what hasn’t been used in a
construction environment before,” he says. “And that’s mostly what we’ve done at Liverpool
CROSSRAIL: A JOURNEY INTO THE
Crossrail's legacy will not just be the miles of train track and platforms across London
and the south east. As James Kenny discovers, the project has become a hotbed of
innovation that will serve construction for years to come.
will leave a deep-rooted legacy across the industry. Europe’s
most ambitious engineering project has already had a major impact on working practices in
areas such as apprenticeships and procurement.
Another key area where it will have a long-lasting impact is the use of technology on site.
Drones, BIM and tablets, among other technologies, have become more common on site the
last few years, but Crossrail has been a pioneer, pushing the boundaries and adapting
already existing gadgets for construction use, while also working on new tech that will benefit
the whole built environment sector for years.
A main driver in this innovation and one of the key stations on the Elizabeth line is Liverpool
Street, one of London’s busiest transport hubs.
project has become a hotbed of innovation as new technology has been
used and tested on site to keep construction on time and to budget.
Ravi Kugananthan, project engineer, tunnels and platforms for main contractor Laing
O’Rourke, explains how everyday gadgets and technology have been adapted for the project
and how some of the solutions and ideas are now being adopted across the construction
“There are two types of ways you can look at innovation: come up with something
using existing technology and adapt what hasn’t been used in a
construction environment before,” he says. “And that’s mostly what we’ve done at Liverpool
INTO THE
Crossrail's legacy will not just be the miles of train track and platforms across London
and the south east. As James Kenny discovers, the project has become a hotbed of
rooted legacy across the industry. Europe’s
most ambitious engineering project has already had a major impact on working practices in
is the use of technology on site.
Drones, BIM and tablets, among other technologies, have become more common on site the
last few years, but Crossrail has been a pioneer, pushing the boundaries and adapting
hile also working on new tech that will benefit
A main driver in this innovation and one of the key stations on the Elizabeth line is Liverpool
project has become a hotbed of innovation as new technology has been
Ravi Kugananthan, project engineer, tunnels and platforms for main contractor Laing
gets and technology have been adapted for the project
and how some of the solutions and ideas are now being adopted across the construction
“There are two types of ways you can look at innovation: come up with something
using existing technology and adapt what hasn’t been used in a
construction environment before,” he says. “And that’s mostly what we’ve done at Liverpool

2. Street. We used normal off-the-shelf technology which hasn’t been used from a construction
point of view.”
All of the new ideas developed and tested at Liverpool Street have been made possible by
Crossrail’s innovation programme, Innovate18, which it developed with London’s Imperial
College.
The initiative involved Crossrail contacting various Tier 1 contractors in its supply chain and
asking them to not only agree to share ideas with each other, but also pay £25,000 into an
innovation fund. All the major contractors working on Crossrail, including Balfour Beatty,
Kier, BAM, Laing O’Rourke and Skanska, agreed. This created an open dialogue of ideas
and a testing ground for new innovation, but by committing funds meant that an £800,000
pool was created that could be used to develop and test new concepts.
William Reddaway, innovation programme manager at Crossrail, says: “Traditionally the
construction industry has been quite slow to pursue innovation or there have been barriers
with companies keeping their own ideas in-house.
“With Innovate18 we had all the contractors agreeing to work and develop together and
really collaborating on research and developing fresh ideas or improvements to existing
ways of working. The programme transcended contract and other boundaries and
encouraged the collective effort to succeed, and that, in turn, will help the whole construction
industry.”
He adds: “This was about legacy and understanding what technologies or solutions can
have a positive impact, not only on Crossrail, but the industry as a whole. The programme
helped share information and supported a trial if an idea had potential and had never been
used in a certain environment.”
Innovate18 has funded the trial of more than 63 ideas, ranging from drones for site surveys
to new sensors to keep people and machinery separate.
Although the programme has been wound down on Crossrail, it has been broadened into an
industry-wide model called I3P. This is the new innovation forum for the infrastructure
industry and it already has five client organisations signed up, including Crossrail, as well as
14 contractors.
The following are six innovations that have been trialled successfully at Liverpool Street
station and could have widespread impact in the industry.

3. About the project
Liverpool Street Crossrail station will open in December 2018 when services begin through
central London. Trains will terminate at Paddington in the west and Abbey Wood in the east.
Laing O’Rourke was awarded the main £300m construction contract for the project to build
two new entrances and ticket halls and platforms, creating new interchanges with the
Northern, Central, Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines, as well as
connections to Stansted airport and National Rail services.
The construction of the new Liverpool Street Crossrail Station is divided up into four main
sites: Moorgate, Liverpool Street, Finsbury Circus Shaft, and Blomfield Street Shaft.
A number of physical constraints below ground at Liverpool Street made the station one of
the trickiest to thread into the urban fabric, including a maze of sewers, existing tube lines
and the Post Office Railway.
In addition, layers of the city’s history had to be revealed before much of the work could get
underway, which in total uncovered nearly 4,000 skeletons from the Bedlam burial site as
well as thousands of artefacts dating back to Roman times.

4. Smart Helmets
Among the more innovative concepts was an augmented reality (AR) smart helmet created
by a collaboration between Crossrail and technology company Soluis.
Glasgow-based Soluis was awarded £35,000 from Innovate UK to develop software that
would allow AR to be utilised on site. Over the past year the company has been working with
Crossrail to build and test an app on the Liverpool Street site that allows construction site
staff to access and upload BIM data via the smart helmet’s visor display.
Called “In-site”, the app is able to transfer information about buildings or structures from the
cloud to the helmet and then overlay it as augmented reality on workers’ visor screens.
Testing the app and the smart helmet on the site has shown how such technology could b
used in the future as the hardware becomes more common and cost effective.
UtterBerry sensors
UtterBerry, an intelligent wireless sensor system using the world’s smallest wireless sensors,
has also been developed and tested on the station site.
Developed originally by Heba Bevan, a PhD student at the Cambridge Centre for Smart
Infrastructure and Construction at the University of Cambridge, it consists of miniature, self
powered sensors placed around the site, that can carry out calculations to derive tunn
displacement in real-time without human intervention. No access is required to keep the
system running in potentially unsafe areas.
The sensors have allowed contractors to know the location of people in a tunnel in the event
of an emergency and is poise
projects.
Among the more innovative concepts was an augmented reality (AR) smart helmet created
by a collaboration between Crossrail and technology company Soluis.
based Soluis was awarded £35,000 from Innovate UK to develop software that
e utilised on site. Over the past year the company has been working with
Crossrail to build and test an app on the Liverpool Street site that allows construction site
staff to access and upload BIM data via the smart helmet’s visor display.
”, the app is able to transfer information about buildings or structures from the
cloud to the helmet and then overlay it as augmented reality on workers’ visor screens.
Testing the app and the smart helmet on the site has shown how such technology could b
used in the future as the hardware becomes more common and cost effective.
UtterBerry, an intelligent wireless sensor system using the world’s smallest wireless sensors,
has also been developed and tested on the station site.
originally by Heba Bevan, a PhD student at the Cambridge Centre for Smart
Infrastructure and Construction at the University of Cambridge, it consists of miniature, self
powered sensors placed around the site, that can carry out calculations to derive tunn
time without human intervention. No access is required to keep the
system running in potentially unsafe areas.
The sensors have allowed contractors to know the location of people in a tunnel in the event
of an emergency and is poised to be adapted across the industry on further tunnelling
Among the more innovative concepts was an augmented reality (AR) smart helmet created
based Soluis was awarded £35,000 from Innovate UK to develop software that
e utilised on site. Over the past year the company has been working with
Crossrail to build and test an app on the Liverpool Street site that allows construction site
”, the app is able to transfer information about buildings or structures from the
cloud to the helmet and then overlay it as augmented reality on workers’ visor screens.
Testing the app and the smart helmet on the site has shown how such technology could be
used in the future as the hardware becomes more common and cost effective.
UtterBerry, an intelligent wireless sensor system using the world’s smallest wireless sensors,
originally by Heba Bevan, a PhD student at the Cambridge Centre for Smart
Infrastructure and Construction at the University of Cambridge, it consists of miniature, self-
powered sensors placed around the site, that can carry out calculations to derive tunnel
time without human intervention. No access is required to keep the
The sensors have allowed contractors to know the location of people in a tunnel in the event
d to be adapted across the industry on further tunnelling

5. GoPro Cameras
These sturdy action cameras originally came out in 2004 and have been mostly used to
shoot sports. However, at Liverpool Street, GoPros were attached to a number of workers on
site to record their daily tasks and the resulting footage was studied to improv
working.
“We wanted to see the perspective of different workers during the day
electricians, for example, and see what they see. So this footage was recorded and then
analysed and we processed it and gave it back as a presentation
Ravi Kugananthan.
“Simple things came out of it, such as a worker wasn’t wearing long sleeves doing their job.
This has now become mandatory on all sites. It’s been hugely helpful in the area of health
and safety.”
These sturdy action cameras originally came out in 2004 and have been mostly used to
shoot sports. However, at Liverpool Street, GoPros were attached to a number of workers on
site to record their daily tasks and the resulting footage was studied to improv
“We wanted to see the perspective of different workers during the day — steel fixers,
electricians, for example, and see what they see. So this footage was recorded and then
analysed and we processed it and gave it back as a presentation on site,” says O’Rourke’s
“Simple things came out of it, such as a worker wasn’t wearing long sleeves doing their job.
This has now become mandatory on all sites. It’s been hugely helpful in the area of health
These sturdy action cameras originally came out in 2004 and have been mostly used to
shoot sports. However, at Liverpool Street, GoPros were attached to a number of workers on
site to record their daily tasks and the resulting footage was studied to improve ways of
steel fixers,
electricians, for example, and see what they see. So this footage was recorded and then
on site,” says O’Rourke’s
“Simple things came out of it, such as a worker wasn’t wearing long sleeves doing their job.
This has now become mandatory on all sites. It’s been hugely helpful in the area of health

6. Pico Projectors
Pico, or pocket, projectors are easy to transport, which means people can project their data
and video anywhere without being tied to power supply. Onsite presentations and updates
could be done during the project off the cuff without having to bring worke
Kugananthan says: “The projector was released only a year and a half ago and only costs
£350. It wasn’t intended for a construction environment but that’s what we’ve used it for.
From our offices in Liverpool street down to the tunnels it’s
and then back again. If you calculate that by a number of people, it does clock up a lot of
hours wasted just moving people around and to do presentations and briefings.
“With these projectors, there’s no power requirement
large screen on a surface, so we were able to update workers, show operatives tasks, or
dangers or changes on site. The amount of time and costs this has saved on the project has
been huge. We were the first to use
other sites in the industry.”
Drones
Drones have also become a vital part of the work at the new station, particularly in the
Moorgate shaft area.
As Kugananthan explains: “In Moorgate we had a number of continual inspections to do at
height. The work involved inspecting the 45
to check services attached to the side of the shafts.”
Pico, or pocket, projectors are easy to transport, which means people can project their data
and video anywhere without being tied to power supply. Onsite presentations and updates
could be done during the project off the cuff without having to bring workers to offices.
Kugananthan says: “The projector was released only a year and a half ago and only costs
£350. It wasn’t intended for a construction environment but that’s what we’ve used it for.
From our offices in Liverpool street down to the tunnels it’s a good 15-20 minutes to the site
and then back again. If you calculate that by a number of people, it does clock up a lot of
hours wasted just moving people around and to do presentations and briefings.
“With these projectors, there’s no power requirement, it’s very portable and produces a very
large screen on a surface, so we were able to update workers, show operatives tasks, or
dangers or changes on site. The amount of time and costs this has saved on the project has
been huge. We were the first to use these projectors but now you are seeing them across
Drones have also become a vital part of the work at the new station, particularly in the
As Kugananthan explains: “In Moorgate we had a number of continual inspections to do at
height. The work involved inspecting the 45-50m shafts that serve the station. We also had
to check services attached to the side of the shafts.”
Pico, or pocket, projectors are easy to transport, which means people can project their data
and video anywhere without being tied to power supply. Onsite presentations and updates
rs to offices.
Kugananthan says: “The projector was released only a year and a half ago and only costs
£350. It wasn’t intended for a construction environment but that’s what we’ve used it for.
20 minutes to the site
and then back again. If you calculate that by a number of people, it does clock up a lot of
hours wasted just moving people around and to do presentations and briefings.
, it’s very portable and produces a very
large screen on a surface, so we were able to update workers, show operatives tasks, or
dangers or changes on site. The amount of time and costs this has saved on the project has
these projectors but now you are seeing them across
Drones have also become a vital part of the work at the new station, particularly in the
As Kugananthan explains: “In Moorgate we had a number of continual inspections to do at
t serve the station. We also had

7. The work had been done manually, with engineers using mobile elevating work platforms to
video and photograph the shafts and tunnels. This was time-consuming and a potential
safety issue.
“So we bought an off-the-shelf drone — the DJI Inspire 1 — and workers were trained to use
it. We ended up using them not only for inspections but also organising logistics, providing a
record of progress and general safety inspections,” adds Kugananthan.
Noise-Cancelling Speakers
This idea originated from noise-cancelling headphones and the desire to try to make the
work environment as quiet and as disruption free as possible. The technology is based on
“inverting” sound waves to cancel out other noises as they travel through the air to the ear.
The idea is still very much in the development stage and has now been transferred over to
I3P where work is continuing.