British Land Company PLC

Bircham Dyson Bell acted for the British Land Company PLC (BL) in objecting to the Crossrail Bill as it went through Parliament. BL is a FTSE-100 company with a large property portfolio in the City of London. BL was very concerned that the design of the proposed Liverpool Street Crossrail station would be inadequate to cope with the expected number of passengers, and would therefore become a constraint on new development in the City of London. The Department of Transport disagreed, saying that Crossrail would actually mean fewer passengers at Liverpool Street station, and that the exit at Moorgate station would serve the City of London adequately.

BDB drafted an objection, known as a petition, and managed the presentation of a case to the Crossrail Bill Select Committee in the House of Commons, jointly with the Corporation of London. This was the first case presented to the Committee. It was successful, and the MPs ruled that the Government had to amend the project to include the construction of a new ticket hall in Liverpool Street, and enlarge one of the existing London Underground ticket halls, at an additional cost of £30-40m. BL extracted further concessions by petitioning in the House of Lords as well.

This additional capacity will not only benefit BL but also other developers in the area, as well as the Corporation of London. Construction of the new ‘Broadgate’ ticket hall is expected to commence in late 2011.