Sadie Morgan, co-founder of leading architecture practice de Rijke Marsh Morgan, has promised that the design panel she has been appointed to chair will ensure HS2 “sticks to its brief” by delivering user-friendly, appropriate design – on everything from bridges to ticketing.
Morgan was appointed to the role on Friday, and will be charged with ensuring delivery of the principles in HS2’s Design Vision document.
Compiled from input from a number of experts, the new document sets out HS2’s ambitions to “enhance the lives of future generations… by designing a transformational rail system that is admired throughout the world”.
Speaking to Construction Manager, Morgan explained that the details of how the panel would operate were still to be decided, and its 25 design experts have still to be sought.
"Anything that relates to design and the customer experience will come through the design panel, so it will need to collect together practitioners in a number of design fields, who can advise on these different aspects of design."
Sadie Morgan
But she promised that it would hold the HS2 team to account on every aspect of the project’s design, including trains and websites, and also learn lessons from other major infrastructure projects, including the 2012 Olympics and the Dutch railways.
“The design panel will make sure that HS2 sticks to their own brief, to support them and also be a critical friend. Anything that relates to design and the customer experience will come through the design panel, so it will need to collect together practitioners in a number of design fields, who can advise on these different aspects of design.”
She anticipated that the 25-strong panel might be divided into various sub-groups, with the heads of the different groups then coming together to liaise on issues with national impact.
“We will also need a way of coordinating with local and regional interest groups, so the design panel will need to be good at communications and outreach,” she added.
But she added that there were “good precedents nationally and internationally where design champions have challenged and supported organisations” on implementing a design-led approach to major projects.
“The Olympics is a very good example of that and any project – within time and budget constraints – where design is critical to the success of the project needs to have a design panel. So I will seek advice and lessons learned from the Olympics, and I’ve also already had a conversation with Nathalie de Vries of MVRDV about how they’ve approached their rail infrastructure projects in Holland.”
Morgan said that she was “as surprised as anyone” when she was appointed, but added: “In terms of energy and skillset I’m definitely someone who can bring plenty to the job.”
