On 28 Jun, 14:27, kytelly wrote:
For the next five years everything in political terms is governed by
the olympic timetable. I would be very surprised if there is a serious
start on Crossrail till its over.

I had thought this - but someone clever (possibly on u.t.l/u.r)
recently pointed out to me that one of the few things the Olympics
*won't* need in civil engineering terms is skilled, specialised
tunnellers and customised, specialised boring machines. Therefore,
these will be among the few resources within the building market that
*aren't* at a massive premium during the lead-up to 2012.

If my understanding of the construction process is right, and if
Crossrail building were to start next year, then the main work for
about the first five years would be the tunnelling. Fit-out and
surface construction would then kick off around 2013: conveniently in
time to use all the builders freed up by the completion (/abandonment,
depending on your levels of cynicism) of Olympic works.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org/blog