Network Rails £1bn plan had amassed more than 3,500 objections ahead of this afternoon’s planning hearing
Network Rail’s controversial £1bn plan to redevelop Liverpool Street station has been approved at a City of London planning meeting this afternoon.
The scheme had attracted more than 3,500 objections and a range of heritage groups lined up to opposed.
But after a two-and-a-half hour meeting at the Guildhall this afternoon, the scheme, which has been designed by Acme, was given the green light by a majority of 19 in favour and three against.
In a statement, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, Chris Hayward, said: “This redevelopment of Liverpool Street station is a major step forward for the Square Mile. It will support the City’s dynamic business ecosystem with state-of-the-art infrastructure, create new jobs and strengthen our position as a world‑leading destination, while ensuring that residents, workers and visitors all benefit from a modern, inclusive and future‑focused transport hub.
“As competition among global cities increases, we must demonstrate our openness to new investment that will enhance our urban environment and Liverpool Street station will now continue to do just that.”
And Tom Sleigh, City planning chair, said: “Everyone likes an upgrade, and this astonishing improvement to Britain’s busiest train station is just that; a major improvement by every measure. It’s a late, but very welcome Christmas present for the nation.”
Speaking earlier during the meeting, he added: “Why is a new station OK for the Victorians, OK for people 40 years ago but somehow isn’t OK for people in the City today? I believe City workers deserve a new station too. So you’ll be unsurprised to know that I am firmly in favour of this excellent application.”
Campaign group Liverpool Street Station Campaign (LISSCA) said it was pinning its hope on the scheme being called in. It said: “We will now await the decisions of the Mayor of London and, if necessary, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. We proceed knowing that public support for preserving the station remains strong.”
And it added: “We now enter a new phase in that same mission: to protect Liverpool Street Station and ensure that the City of London gets a terminus worthy of its history and its people. LISSCA is prepared for the long haul.”
The Acme scheme replaced an earlier plan by Sellar, drawn up by Herzog & de Meuron which also attracted a welter of criticism.
A rival plan by John McAslan, the practice behind the King’s Cross extension, was drawn up as an alternative to Acme’s proposal. McAslan said his scheme could be done for less money and more quickly.
Critics of the Acme plan centred on Network Rail’s proposals to demolish a large section of the station’s Victorian-style extension which was completed in 1992.
It will make way for an 18-storey commercial development above the station concourse containing nearly 90,000sq m of office space, which would be used to fund capacity and accessibility upgrades to the rest of the station, which has become severely overcrowded in recent years and overtook Waterloo as the UK’s busiest in 2023.
Although the original 19th century trainshed which sits north of the concourse would remain untouched, objectors argue the demolition of its 1990s extension, which is built in almost exactly the same style, would fundamentally alter the character of the building.
But Historic England, which strongly criticised Herzog & de Meuron’s original application, which would have also cantilevered the office block over the linked grade II* former Great Eastern Hotel, did not issued a formal objection to Acme’s plans.
The project team includes Aecom on engineering and transport, Certo as project manager, Newmark, previously known as Gerald Eve, on planning, Gleeds as cost manager, Donald Insall Associates on heritage and townscape, GIA on daylight and sunlight and SLA as landscape architect.
No comments yet