{"id":284511,"date":"2025-11-26T14:48:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/284511\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T14:48:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:48:23","slug":"last-minute-liverpool-street-design-could-derail-perverse-tower-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/284511\/","title":{"rendered":"Last-minute Liverpool Street design could derail \u2018perverse\u2019 tower plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man who oversaw the hailed redevelopment of King\u2019s Cross railway station has proposed a last-minute alternative design for the controversial redevelopment of Liverpool Street, as heritage bodies call on Network Rail to withdraw an existing application for a much taller building. <\/p>\n

The transport body, in partnership with the British architectural firm ACME, has submitted a planning application for an 18-storey office tower that would require the partial demolition of Britain\u2019s busiest railway station, including some listed aspects. It was Network Rail\u2019s second proposal for the site, the first of which was pulled after universal criticism from heritage campaigners, and it received a similar reaction. <\/p>\n

Griff Rhys Jones, the TV presenter and president of the Victorian Society, described Network Rail\u2019s decision to push ahead with the demolition of the concourse roof as \u201cperverse\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Proposed<\/p>\n

The new proposal would \u201cfloat\u201d a nine-storey building above the station and train shed, which would be preserved<\/p>\n

\"Proposed<\/p>\n

McAslan\u2019s design from street level<\/p>\n

The scheme ran into further trouble when a report commissioned by Network Rail, conducted by JLL, said the \u00a31.2 billion scheme was \u201cnot technically viable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Heritage campaigners now hope that this third scheme, unveiled on Wednesday by John McAslan & Partners and first reported by the Architects\u2019 Journal<\/a>, will make Network Rail rethink their approach.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Your guide to London: read the latest news from the capital here<\/a><\/p>\n

The McAslan plan mirrors the celebrated refurbishment of King\u2019s Cross in reusing rather than demolishing much of the existing railway infrastructure. It envisages a nine-storey development \u201cfloating\u201d above the existing station and train shed, keeping almost all of the grade II listed elements in the station.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

By \u201cfloating\u201d the new building, the existing Victorian structure, below, could be kept<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

The architect claimed his scheme would cost \u201chalf the current \u00a31.2 billion ACME scheme, take up two thirds of the area and take half the time to be delivered\u201d due to more lightweight construction schemes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we want is Network Rail to take notice, to pause the current application, and assess this as an alternative because it\u2019s time to step back a moment and look at something else, with the ACME scheme requiring such destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Regen X: the \u00a33 billion making of King\u2019s Cross<\/a><\/p>\n

The campaign group Save Britain\u2019s Heritage has backed McAslan\u2019s plans and on Tuesday night its director, Henrietta Billings, called them a \u201cfresh and exciting vision\u201d. <\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIt shows that there are alternative approaches to upgrading this celebrated public building in more sympathetic and imaginative ways that won\u2019t cause years of disruption to commuters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

The McAslan design from above<\/p>\n

The plans were also backed by Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society, and James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society.<\/p>\n

The key difference is the maintaining of the concourse to the south of the station, towards Old Broad Street, where a Kindertransport statue stands. ACME\u2019s scheme involves effectively demolishing the concourse, although the statue would remain a \u201cprominent focal point\u201d.<\/p>\n

The scheme was expected to go before the City of London\u2019s planning committee this year but revisions to the scheme by the developer and architect have pushed the decision back into the new year.<\/p>\n

It is understood that Network Rail have seen McAslan\u2019s proposals.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

Proposed walkways within the McAslan design<\/p>\n

McAslan\u2019s redevelopment of King\u2019s Cross, which was completed in 2013, has won more than 30 international design awards. The firm has since been contracted to deliver transport stations across the world, including Sydney\u2019s Central railway station, which also went on to win merit awards.<\/p>\n

\u2022 King\u2019s Cross 20 years on: what next for London\u2019s best redevelopment?<\/a><\/p>\n

ACME said their scheme would enable the station to serve more than 200 million passengers a year, boosting London\u2019s economy and establishing \u201ca landmark gateway to the City of London\u201d.<\/p>\n

The firm says on its website: \u201cThe recently submitted plans will turn Liverpool Street station into a destination in its own right with a new retail, leisure and workspace offer. The transformed station will improve connections to the wider City and public spaces, and provide a catalyst to deliver the City of London\u2019s plans to secure long-term economic growth, prosperity and opportunity for London and beyond.\u201d <\/p>\n

Network Rail said it had conducted a thorough review of all development options, adding: \u201cThe JMP alternative scheme closely mirrors one of the many options we explored in detail and included in the planning application \u2014 and concluded it was undeliverable. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe commissioned an independent team to review the JMP proposal to ensure no areas or options were overlooked or discounted. They endorsed our findings: building over the Victorian train shed is undeliverable due to structural complexity, the need for prolonged station closures, and securing the necessary funding required. The JMP scheme also proposes building on land outside Network Rail\u2019s ownership and building on the original Victorian train shed it claims to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man who oversaw the hailed redevelopment of King\u2019s Cross railway station has proposed a last-minute alternative design…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-284511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}