At a glance
• John McAslan + Partners have unveiled a lower-cost alternative to Network Rail’s £1.2bn plan for Liverpool Street station.
• Heritage groups say the McAslan scheme would avoid years of disruption to passengers using the UK’s busiest station
•. Network Rail’s current scheme has sparked thousands of objections but has more than 1,000 backers
The row over the proposed £1.2bn redevelopment of Liverpool Street station has taken a new twist.
The award-winning architects who transformed King’s Cross station in 2012, John McAslan + Partners, have put forward an alternative vision for expanding the capacity of the UK’s busiest train station, which is grade II-listed.
Conservationists battling the proposals for Liverpool Street that have been put forward by Network Rail - which would involve building a 19-storey, 97m tower block over the concourse - say the McAslan vision could be achieved without years of disruption and at half the price.
They have caused for the planning process to be “paused” to allow alternative proposals to be considered by Network Rail.
The City of London Corporation, the planning authority for the site, is not expected to decide on the Network Rail application until early next year.
It has already attracted 2,125 objections but 1,078 letters of support.
The McAslan proposal is for a vaulted office building with a public garden over the northern end of the station platforms.
Nine floors of timber would be hung from a lightweight steel frame to create almost 700,000sq ft of office space.
The scheme would “remove the unsightly retail mezzanine, declutter the concourse and open up views along the trainshed”.
Supporters say this would be much quicker to build, avoiding the disruption of demolishing the station roof or the need to drive columns through the concourse to support a new office block.
It would aim to match the capacity upgrades and accessibility improvements sought by Network Rail in its own scheme.
John McAslan, founder of John McAslan + Partners, 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.
“Importantly, our emerging ideas for Liverpool Street station are proportionate in scale to the existing structure and aligned with the level of additional development required to finance the station’s upgrade.
“Our approach is phasable and will ensure Liverpool Street Station remains operational with minimal disruption during its construction period.”
Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, who is advising McAslan on its landscape and biodiversity strategy, said the proposal “offers an exhilarating reimagining of Edward Wilson’s breathtaking trainshed, a cathedral-like masterpiece”.
Henrietta Billings, director of Save Britain’s Heritage, said: “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.”
Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society, said: “We are delighted that John McAslan’s concept explores an alternative strategy.
“It would add a further layer of sensitive adaption to the site, keeping all the significant C20th parts which make a major contribution to the history of the station and avoiding building over the main concourse.
“We hope it will open up the debate about how we fund major infrastructure projects, and how we balance heritage and financial interests. Fresh thinking at this point is very much needed.”
James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society, said: "This proposal demonstrates that there are alternative approaches to delivering the discrete upgrades that Liverpool Street station requires.”
Network Rail’s plan is to use the commercial office development to help fund about £500m of improvements to the station.
The tower block currently proposed would be 11m shorter than the 21-storey, 108m scheme first proposed by Sellar, with the support of Network Rail.
Liverpool St station has become the busiest train station in the county, largely due to the popularity of the Elizabeth line.
In September, campaigners said the Network Rail scheme should be rejected because of its “poor environmental credentials”.
The Standard has approached Network Rail for comment.
© The Standard Ltd