Plans for a £1.5bn redevelopment of Liverpool Street station in London have been submitted for planning approval. The proposal, designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, includes the construction of nearly 1 million sq ft of commercial space above the station concourse and the adjoining former Great Eastern hotel.
The scheme would replace the listed Victorian steel-and-glass structure over the main concourse with an opaque, artificially lit ceiling. Hope Square, which contains a memorial to the Kindertransport, would be removed and the sculpture relocated. New blocks of offices and hotel accommodation, rising up to 16 storeys, would be built above the concourse, the square and the eight-storey listed hotel building.
A new deck at street level would provide access to the platforms via escalators, lifts and stairs. The project also promises improvements to the adjoining underground station, including seven lifts to make platforms wheelchair-accessible. The Victorian train shed over the tracks would be retained and refurbished.
The proposal has been put forward by Sellar, the property company behind the Shard at London Bridge and the nearby Paddington Square development, together with Network Rail and Hong Kong-based transport operator MTR. Sellar says the plans will address chronic accessibility, capacity and overcrowding issues and transform the passenger experience. Additional features include a 25-metre, four-lane outdoor swimming pool and new public spaces on upper levels.
However, the Liverpool Street Station Campaign, a coalition of eight heritage organisations, has opposed the plans. Its president, Griff Rhys Jones, described the proposals as “crass and unsustainable” and said it was “like putting a giant clown’s hat on top of St Paul’s Cathedral”. The campaign argues that the scale of the development would overwhelm the historic station and hotel.
The planning application will be considered by the City of London’s planning committee, which must weigh the heritage impact against the claimed public benefits of the scheme.
