Network Rail Property is relaunching its controversial London Liverpool Street station redevelopment, after earlier attempts drew backlash from heritage organisations.
Robin Dobson, group property director at Network Rail Property, said: “We have spent time talking and listening: our latest plans celebrate Victorian features including the original train shed and the Great Eastern Hotel.
“Network Rail Property is leading a new team with a new approach which will respect the station’s unique heritage – simple in design, embracing London’s mix of the old with the new.”
Network Rail Property is now consulting on a revised scheme that includes step-free access, new lifts, more turnstiles, new toilets, better signage and increasing the size of the station’s concourse.
Dobson said these would, however, still be paid for by a new office building above the station’s concourse – a proposal which opponents, including actor Stephen Fry, artist Tracey Emin and three former presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects, objected to in 2023.
In a letter to The Times, they wrote: “To plonk 15 storeys of insensitively designed tower directly on top of the Grade II* former Great Eastern Hotel… is grossly opportunistic and wrong… and sets a dangerous precedent.”
As a result, much of the previous plans for the £1.5bn redevelopment of the station, which would have created a new 10-storey office block with 800,000 sq ft of offices and a 160,000 sq ft, 16-storey hotel, are now being revised.
Architects at Acme are collaborating with Network Rail on the new proposals, which a spokesperson for Network Rail described as “based on a thorough understanding of operational needs of the station and its historic significance”.
The company will consult with passengers, local businesses, heritage groups and elected representatives as it prepares to submit a planning application within the next few months.
Image © Acme
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