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11.10.26

Designing at Scale: Lessons from London’s Elizabeth Line

Event Fast Forward
November 10th, 2026
6:00pm - 8:00pm
WSP
250 West 34th Street, New York, NY, USA

Neill McClements is a Partner at Grimshaw with over 30 years’ experience leading multi-disciplinary design teams across all sectors and scales from city-shaping infrastructure to award-winning product design. Neill's passion for architectural excellence in infrastructure is evident in his leadership on major international projects including the 2024 Stirling Prize-winning Elizabeth Line, New York's Fulton Center, Southern Cross Station in Melbourne and London's Northern Line Extension to Battersea. His collaborative approach delivers benchmark environmental design and brings forward construction innovation, creating positive social, equitable, and sustainable outcomes for communities. Neill is a regular contributor to wider industry discourse through design panels, lectures and publications and shares his thinking through various teaching positions at UK architecture schools.

Dani Simons currently serves as Alstom’s Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, Americas. Alstom is a global leader in rail mobility. Based out of the company’s New York office, she is overseeing all aspects of communication and public affairs work across the United States, Canada and Latin America. Prior to joining Alstom, Simons was most recently Director of the Office of Public Affairs and Assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Simons has also served as Director of Strategic Communications for NYCDOT under Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan; was part of the launch team for Citi Bike, and then Head of Communications for its parent company, Motivate; was the Global Head of Public Partnerships at Waze; and held the position of Vice President of Communications at Regional Plan Association during the creation and release of the Fourth Regional Plan. She has a Master of Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and the Environment. She lives in Brooklyn with her family and often commutes by bike when not riding the train.

Join us for a conversation about London’s Elizabeth Line with Neill McClements.

Officially opened in May 2022 after twelve years in design, construction, and delivery, the Elizabeth Line runs 100 kilometers east to west across London and carries an estimated 200 million passengers per year. It increases the capacity of central London’s underground railway network by ten percent and cuts commuter travel times by up to thirty minutes.

Neill McClements, architect at Grimshaw and a key member of the line-wide design team, will share how the line-wide design strategy balances cross-network consistency with freedom for each of the ten central stations to respond to its own neighborhood. McClements will also discuss how light, acoustics, and the right materials can make the passenger experience less anxious and more humane in underground stations.

How can architects and designers redefine successful transportation projects not just by what they move, but how they change the urban experience?

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Guest & Accessibility Policies

This event is open to Urban Design Forum Fellows and their invited guests.

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully.

  • This venue is ADA accessible. There will be microphones and speakers.
  • If you’re not feeling well, please stay home. Face masks are encouraged, particularly if you have been recently exposed to colds, flus, or other illness.
  • Please refrain from wearing strong fragrances to accommodate guests with allergies or environmental sensitivities.
  • If you have additional needs, we will do our best to accommodate. Please contact rsvp@urbandesignforum.org.
About Global Exchange

Global Exchange connects New York City’s civic community to the world’s foremost urban leaders and inspires creative change around shared challenges, from housing and infrastructure to health and resilience. The Global Exchange Speaker Series brings experts from around the world to New York City for lectures and conversations with an audience of distinguished leaders across the fields of policy, advocacy, design, philanthropy, planning and law. 

Continuing Education

This event has been approved for 1.5 AIA LU hours and 1.5 AICP CM credits.

Support

Lead Sponsor

We thank Global Circle members Akerman LLP, Apple Bank, Crescere Collaborative, Fogarty Finger, HKS, Jamie von Klemperer, KPF, Office for the Next Environment, Skylight, and Upside Collab.

Global Exchange is made possible with additional support from our Board of Directors, Circle Members, and company and individual members. Our programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

To learn more about supporting Global Exchange, please contact Miranda Bellizia, miranda@urbandesignform.org.

Image Credit: Grimshaw

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