PRESS RELEASE: Do not pass go: Don’t let Network Rail and the City play Monopoly with Liverpool Street Station

Time to pause - and question Network Rail’s plans

28th November 2024

SAVE Britain’s Heritage and the Liverpool Street Station Campaign (LISSCA) have raised serious concerns about the emerging new plans for Liverpool Street station.

It follows highly controversial plans headed by developer Sellar Property Group, Network Rail and Hertzog de Meuron architects which were de-railed earlier this year in the face of extensive public opposition. Network Rail is currently consulting on their latest plans ahead of submitting a formal planning application expected in less than six weeks time.

The emerging proposals, designed by Acme architects, show Liverpool Street Station and its majestic neighbour, the grade II* listed Victorian hotel, drastically overshadowed by a tower block built over the station. The carefully designed existing concourse would be demolished and the daylight which currently floods the station’s cathedral-like interiors would be drastically reduced.

Network Rail claim this level of development on top of and through the listed station is required to fund station upgrade works including additional lifts and escalators. Yet so far they have declined to provide any figures or costings for the upgrades or the office development – all required to justify such a high level of demolition and impact on irreplaceable buildings and the surrounding conservation area.

The proposals have united national heritage organisations in concern that these plans are being rushed through the consultation process to deliver them to City of London planners next month, without sufficient information or justification provided for the serious harm the scheme would cause.

Griff Rhys Jones, president of LISSCA and the Victorian Society, said: “The Victorian Society and other expert bodies have looked in detail at the new proposal for Liverpool Street Station, and cannot accept that this is the best way forward. Other London stations like King's Cross and St Pancras have adapted to the twenty-first century. They revealed their original Railway Age splendour. It seems perverse that the proposals at Liverpool Street should still go in the opposite direction. Over two thousand people objected to the previous scheme. This new scheme does not answer their justified concern... Above all, they should not be seeking huge additions and causing damage to listed buildings as a means to achieve new services.”

Henrietta Billings, director of SAVE said: “Despite the widespread controversy generated by the previous plans, we see the latest scheme appearing to repeat several of these major errors. Network Rail are still proposing an overwhelmingly tall building in a conservation area and to demolish large parts of the much loved and carefully detailed listed building.

“Network Rail claim this development will fund the station upgrades, yet they have declined to provide any costings or viability information. The level of harm to the station, streetscape, and protected historic surroundings remains unjustified. We are urging Network Rail to re-think their approach.”

A planning application is expected to be submitted by the end of the year. Watch this space and LISSCA updates for further details.

See it, save it! How you can help:

Sign the petition now: 

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Notes for Editors:

1/ For more information contact lydia.franklin@savebritainsheritage.org or call the office on 020 7253 3500.

2/ The Liverpool Street Station Campaign (LISSCA) comprises SAVE Britain’s Heritage, The Twentieth Century Society, Historic Buildings & Places, The Council for British Archaeology, the Georgian Group, the Spitalfields Trust, Civic Voice, London Historians, the Betjeman Society, London & Middlesex Archaeological Society, the Victorian Society, and original campaigners from the 1970s who prevented all the station buildings being demolished.

3/ Read about the listing upgrades for Liverpool Street Station and its hotel achieved in 2022.

4/ SAVE Britain’s Heritage is an independent voice in conservation that fights for threatened historic buildings and sustainable reuses. We stand apart from other organisations by bringing together architects, engineers, planners and investors to offer viable alternative proposals. Where necessary, and with expert advice, we take legal action to prevent major and needless losses.