On May 17, 12:23*am, Mr Thant
wrote:

On 16 May, 16:24, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 15:04:13 on Sat, 16
May 2009, John Rowland
remarked:
Maybe they wouldn't be allowed to have platforms below water.

Not so. If it weren't for the last-minute addition of the retail
component, the station would have been built with exactly the same
layout, only with water where the retail will be.

Having built on every scrap of land they are now building on the old
docks - so inconsiderate for someone to have dug them in the first
place.

There's no other reason for it being built so much earlier than the
rest of the line. The Canary Wharf Group (or whatever they're called)
must be very keen to get those shops open.


Not so quick - there is another reason, namely that North Quay will be
the worksite for the Crossrail station. The Canary Wharf Group (CWG)
can't begin construction of the new office development on North Quay,
which already has planning permission, until the Crossrail station box
has been finished - which it should be by summer 2012. So the shops
aren't the driving force here.

There's more info in this CWG press release (look for the para
beginning "North Quay..."):
http://www.canarywharf.com/news/ns_news_t.asp?id=398

This bit's also interesting:
---quote---
Canary Wharf Group will construct Canary Wharf Crossrail station for a
fixed price of £500 million. £350 million of the station’s £500
million costs will be met from Crossrail’s £15.9bn budget with CWG
bearing the risk in relation to costs above the fixed price limit.

CWG’s contribution of £150 million will be applied against future
Crossrail Section 106 contributions for certain agreed sites which may
be required as proposed alterations to the London Plan.
---/quote---

So the station is CWG's 'baby', which perhaps explains the addition of
the four floors of retail (is this element really such a late addition
though?).