The Infrastructure Podcast: Episode 12

Guest: Harbinder Birdi, Creative Director, Birdi & Partners

Infrastructure for people

In this podcast we talk about the challenge of designing "infrastructure for people” – clearly a vital outcome from investment but too often overlooked.

In particular, we are going focus on the architectural challenge of the Crossrail project, a multibillion pound scheme which after decades of planning and construction has given London the new Elizabeth Line beneath the capital - in fact providing 100km service linking Heathrow Airport and Reading in the west across to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

Everyone will be familiar with the criticisms of the project and the fact that it was delivered several years late and considerably over budget when it opened in May last year. A lot of lessons will of course be learned.

But crucially, anyone that has travelled on the new Elizabeth Line will also appreciate – and in most cases eulogise about – the step change that the new service provides in terms of scale, comfort and sheer user delight from a public transport facility.

In short, much of that delight is down to good design – of the trains but more importantly of the stations which are, without exception, designed with the users in mind. In fact, the new underground station beneath the heart of London have been described as modern cathedrals to public transport – expensive and complex to deliver certainly, but now key hubs and drivers for a wholesale uplift in the public realm for decades to come.

Behind this success is good design and a clear architectural vision for public need. It is my pleasure therefore, to welcome Harbinder Birdi, creative director at Birdi & Partners to the Infrastructure Podcast today. As a partner at architectural practice Hawkins Brown, was the architect that, over many years and for many masters, drove and clung onto that vision for Crossrail.

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