Victorian Society hails ‘critical moment’ to stop Acme-designed proposal to build 19-storey tower above station concourse
A coalition of heritage groups has written to the mayor of London urging him to reject Network Rail’s plans to redevelop Liverpool Street Station.
Proposals designed by Acme to demolish much of the grade II-listed station’s 1980s extension and build a 19-storey office tower above it were approved by the City of London in February but still need Sadiq Khan’s backing before work can start.
The Victorian Society, Save Britain’s Heritage, the Twentieth Century Society and the Georgian Group, are among the organisations which have urged Khan to refuse the scheme.
The groups have also called on members of the public to join their campaign and send their own objections to the mayor in what they say is a “critical moment” for the future of the station.
The scheme’s planning application has already generated the highest level of engagement ever seen for a City of London application, with more than 5,000 members of the public writing in to share their views.
Some 3,839 objections have been posted on the scheme’s planning page against 1,153 letters of support as of 14 April 2026, with both numbers breaking records.
The Victorian Society, which led opposition to the scheme at its February planning committee hearing, said today that the proposals would cause “serious and irreversible harm” to the station and its setting, alongside up to a decade of disruption for commuters.
The group’s president Griff Rhys Jones said: “Londoners do not want a vast office block plonked down on top of their beloved Liverpool Street Station, and the eye-watering harm it would cause. This is an ill-thought-out scheme that would demolish historic fabric and still deliver very little for passengers.”
Rhys Jones also called on the mayor to consider alternative proposals for the site including a rival scheme by John McAslan & Partners which would aim to retain more of the station’s existing fabric.
He added: “This is really about a huge office development, not a better station. We have seen at St Pancras and King’s Cross stations that these buildings can be upgraded and redeveloped without this level of destruction - so where is the proper evaluation of less damaging alternatives?
“The mayor has the power to ask for a less destructive and greener solution and he should do so.”
McAslan’s proposal for the station, which consists of a lightweight structure built over the top of the existing trainshed, has been championed by Save Britain’s Heritage as an “opportunity to create another beautiful and successful gateway to London”.
The campaign group has set out a detailed comparison of the McAslan and Acme schemes in its letter to the mayor alongside a report by sustainability experts Simon Sturgis which argues the latter proposal would be carbon-intensive and environmentally “obsolete”.
Save Britain’s Heritage director Henrietta Billings said: “We’re asking Sir Sadiq to put the brakes on the current proposal because of the unjustifiable damage and disruption it would cause to this crucial gateway to the city.
“Station improvements are essential, but there is a less disruptive alternative worthy of a world-class city. The mayor has an opportunity to course correct and create a legacy of which all Londoners can be proud.”
Khan is expected to make a final decision on the Liverpool Street Station scheme by this summer.
The project team on the scheme 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.
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