By Gino Spocchia
Network Rail has submitted long-awaited proposals to overhaul London’s Liverpool Street station to planners.
The plans for upgrading and redeveloping the central London station were submitted to the City of London this yesterday (7 April), reported Construction News’ sister magazine Architects Journal.
The scheme, which features huge vaulted roof structures, will overhaul station concourses to provide step-free access, more escalators, more ticket barriers, and wayfinding improvements inside the Grade II-listed Victorian station.
Architect ACME was appointed to the scheme last year following controversy around the size of initial plans by Herzog & de Meuron.
Developer Sellar also exited the project at the same time, with Network Rail’s property arm taking over.
An above-station office development will be smaller than Herzog & de Meuron’s part-15, part-21-storey proposal, which would controversially have incorporated the Grade II* former Great Eastern Hotel building into the station alongside a replacement hotel element.
The development is expected to rise to 98m – slightly shorter than the 108m above-station office blocks that provoked opposition against Herzog & de Meuron’s proposals.
Network Rail, the station owner, said the submitted scheme was better ‘realigned’ with the existing station architecture than earlier proposals. The building dates back to 1875 with a 90s extension that was listed in 2022,
The station’s brick vault-like station entrances and a staggered roof-line have also been designed to better ‘connect’ with Liverpool Street’s existing Victorian architecture, the rail authority added.
ACME founding director Friedrich Ludewig said: ‘We have embraced the challenge to design new entrances reflecting its position as the UK’s busiest train station, and roof structures that speak to the original 1875 structures and the 1990s extension.
‘We are retaining the essential qualities of the existing station, celebrating elements that were previously hidden, creating sustainable new workplaces and providing spaces to expand into for generations to come. Liverpool Street station will become the world-class transport hub that the City of London and all Londoners deserve.’
Herzog & de Meuron’s proposal, submitted in May 2023, received more than 2,200 objections. The AJ understands that the Swiss practice had been working on redesigned proposals before ACME was appointed to draw up an entirely new scheme.
Historic England had objected to the earlier plans ‘in the strongest terms’, citing what it called ‘extraordinarily high levels of harm’ to the 1870s and 1990s trainsheds and the former Great Eastern Hotel building. It has not yet commented on the ACME plans.
A timeline for approval and completion is not yet known.