Neill McClements (7347), Grimshaw’s lead architectural designer on the Elizabeth Line, was interviewed by the Architects Journal shortly after they won the 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize.

McClements talked about collaborating with wayfinding expert Maynard, lighting designer Equation and engineer AtkinsRéalis on the 26-mile long rail project – 30 years after Grimshaw’s Waterloo International station won the Stirling Prize’s predecessor, the RIBA Building of the Year Award.

Did you expect to win?
We had low expectations coming into it. Infrastructure isn’t always an easy thing for people to understand. The context within which we're working, and the challenges you face when you're designing something complex like this ... that’s very delivery-focused. So, to be honest, we were really just genuinely delighted to be shortlisted. That’s the achievement in itself, and everything else was a bonus.

The Elizabeth Line is one of the only major transport infrastructure schemes delivered in the last two decades. Is this a signal to the government and others about what’s possible?

I hope so. There’s no doubt that these projects are difficult, they're time-consuming, they're expensive. But I think ultimately, what the project shows is they deliver a huge value way beyond their investment, in terms of connectivity and, obviously, they improve lives by giving people access to homes, jobs, education and so on.

‘These projects are difficult but they deliver a huge value way beyond their investment’

It's also about taking cars off the road, creating healthy lifestyles and, from the project’s regenerative sustainability point of view, if people are serious about a net zero agenda, then projects like this have to happen.

Would you say this is a sustainable project but in a slightly less obvious way? Transport infrastructure involves a lot of upfront, embodied carbon. However, in the long term, is it an investment worth making?

Yes, that’s a really good point. Sometimes people will look at the project, and say there’s a lot of concrete and steel use in a job like that because of the nature of the tunnelling and so on – therefore, it mustn’t be sustainable. Actually, sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture.

‘You’ve got to look at that kind of the wider carbon story’

It doesn't mean to say we didn't take embodied carbon seriously. A lot of effort went into [looking at when] you’re using concrete, you’re using recycled aggregates, you’re reducing cement content, and all the things that reduce the embodied carbon. And likewise, we’re trying to reduce operational carbon by trying to make stations really easy to maintain and access for future upgrade and new technologies. So we’re also trying to do that as well. You’ve got to look at that kind of the wider carbon story.

What’s your favourite aspect of the project, and perhaps your favourite station?
I don't have a favourite station because it’s a bit like your children. We’ve worked with these 10 different station teams and each had their own challenges. And it’s really enjoyable working being [in] the middle of it all, working with all these different teams.

‘When it opened, we got on the trains and rode with the general public, watching the reaction’

My favourite aspect of it is seeing the public’s reaction. When we finished on the final day of the project when it opened, we all got together as a team, we got on the trains and just rode with the general public, watching the reaction. That was the most positive day on the project.

How much is this a Grimshaw win or a collaborative win?
It’s great for the practice because we’ve come close a couple of times with London Bridge Station and the Eden Project but we didn't quite get there, and they were both fantastic projects that were very successful and well-loved. So it’s nice that we’ve got there, third time lucky.

But actually, more than anything that I've been involved in, this has been such a collaboration, not just us as [but] a team with Atkins and with Maynard and also with all of the different station teams and the engineering teams and the contractors.

Any tips for future Stirling prize contenders?
When we started on the project, the last thing on our minds was awards. You're just hoping the project moves forward and gets built, and then you're just thinking, how can we achieve some quality here for the passengers? And that was always the motivation all the way through. There’s no point in you thinking, is anybody thinking about awards? We’re very fortunate it came at the end of that project.

Does it feel special coming exactly 30 years after Waterloo International took the RIBA’s top prize?
Is it 30 years? I didn't realise that. But that’s a nice story. It wasn’t called the Stirling Prize then, was it? That’s a lovely kind of story and I think one that Nick [Grimshaw] will be very proud of.