[3] The design of the tunnel approaches and portal buildings was carried out by Anthony Meats and Rooney O'Carroll Architects as part of an overall consultancy on the LDDC highway infrastructure programme.

Called 'Balfour Beatty Fairclough Joint Venture',[3] the project involved five million man hours over 193 weeks.

The eastern portal to the tunnel, emerging onto the A1261 Aspen Way, is just north of the Canary Wharf development, near West India Quay DLR station.

Complex ground conditions and the need to avoid several key existing structures including other tunnels and a river basin increased costs.

The eastern services building (Westferry Road) has artwork commissioned from UK artist and sculptor Michael Kenny (1941–1999), a relief work in Kilkenny limestone called On Strange And Distant Islands.