Ever since plans were first submitted in 2023, the £1.5 billion renovation of Liverpool Street Station has been mired in controversy. More than 2,000 conservationists, celebs and members of the public objected to the original proposal, which involved building an enormous 21-storey tower, partly rebuilding a nearby Grade II-listed hotel and disrupting views of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Network Rail went back to the drawing board and revealed an overhaul of its designs a year later. But heritage bodies have been calling on that plan to be axed too, as it would still require the partial demolition of listed elements of the station. Now, a third option has been proposed, and it looks like heritage campaigners back it.
John McAslan & Partners (JMP), the architects behind the 2012 transformation of King’s Cross Station have put forward an alternative plan for increasing the capacity at Liverpool Street. The firm envisages a nine-storey development ‘floating’ above the existing station and train shed, accessed via 50 Liverpool Street, which would be less disruptive and allow for the listed parts of the building to stay intact.
Under JMP’s proposals, the new Liverpool Street would require almost no demolition, have improved capacity and accessibility, feature new landscaped public walkways and provide close to 700,000 sqft of offices.
The architect claims that this alternative design will be much cheaper – ‘half the current £1.2 billion ACME scheme’ in fact – and take half the time to be delivered. Campaigners are now urging Network Rail to pause the current planning process in order to consider the third option.
John McAslan, founder of JMP, said: ‘At Liverpool Street Station we seek to embrace the past, present and future in a way that celebrates transport architecture by retaining and protecting the station’s historic fabric and also future-proofs it – an approach we adopted at King’s Cross Station.
‘Our approach is phasable and will ensure Liverpool Street Station remains operational with minimal disruption during its construction period. Thanks to our team’s ecologically led fabric-first design approach which embeds our practice ethos of ‘enoughness’, we do no more than is needed to deliver a successful outcome for the station and its passengers.’
Henrietta Billings, director of the charity SAVE Britain’s Heritage, added: ‘This fresh and exciting vision is a valuable contribution to the debate about what’s possible at this important site. It shows that there are alternative approaches to upgrading this celebrated public building in more sympathetic and imaginative ways that won’t cause years of disruption to commuters.’
The City of London Corporation is expected to make a decision on Network Rail’s application early next year.
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