黑洞社区

Network Rail will appoint a new development partner for its overhaul of Liverpool Street station after receiving planning permission, the boss of its property arm has said.

Robin Dobson said Network Rail Property is currently in discussions with 鈥渁ll development partners that are in and around the private sector market鈥� on its radically different proposals for the station announced last week.

Firms the transport operator is talking to still include Sellar and MTR, Network Rail鈥檚 partners on a former version of the scheme designed by Herzog & de Meuron which was aborted following a backlash from heritage groups.

Robin Dobson said Network Rail鈥檚 new team was working at 鈥榰nprecedented鈥� speed to get the planning application ready for submission

But Dobson told 黑洞社区 that Network Rail was now 鈥渞unning the application ourselves鈥� and a new development partner will not be appointed on the scheme until 鈥減ost consent鈥�.

鈥淭o get the right solution, we have taken, I think, the bold decision and the right decision to lead the application ourselves and to employ a new team,鈥� Dobson said.

鈥淲e have taken stock over many months to work out how we best move forward with the project. We as Network Rail Property are leading the new application, and we are speaking with the developer market and the investment market as we would do with any application.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 Network Rail Property鈥檚 focus, the new application.鈥�

>> See also: Network Rail unveils 鈥榗ompletely reimagined鈥� plan for Liverpool Street station redevelopment

Dobson, who joined the business as group property director in 2022, said the new team was working at an 鈥渦nprecedented鈥� speed on its redesign of the station.

Plans drawn up by the scheme鈥檚 new architect Acme are expected to be submitted within the next two months in what Dobson claimed would be 鈥渙ne of the fastest planning applications of a project of this scale and this complexity in the City of London鈥�.

This could allow the new proposals to be assigned a planning committee date as soon as next summer, with Network Rail aiming to start construction within two years of the plans being approved.

Dobson also revealed new details of how the scheme differs from Sellar鈥檚 existing plans, submitted to the City last year, which proposed a 20-storey office tower controversially built above the grade II*-listed former Great Eastern Hotel.

Acme鈥檚 proposals would be significantly cheaper to build, coming in at a cost of around 拢1bn, a third less than the 拢1.5bn price tag attached to the Sellar scheme.

Cost savings would be achieved primarily through a more efficient construction programme which would not touch the listed hotel and retain more of the station鈥檚 1980s extension.

The overstation office tower would also be reduced in size by three floors and contain around 650,000sq ft of floorspace, compared to the 800,000 sq ft building proposed by Sellar, and would no longer be cantilevered over the listed hotel.

Network Rail has been developing the new proposals, described by Dobson as 鈥渜uite a move on from the previous application鈥�, since the summer at the same time as Sellar and Herzog & de Meuron has been amending its own plans.

The latter鈥檚 original proposals were widely criticised by heritage groups including Historic England, which argued the scheme would 鈥減rofoundly damage the character of the station as a whole鈥� if built.

>> See also: Network Rail began looking at redrawing Liverpool Street development in the summer

Concerns focused mainly on the impact of the scheme on the grade II-listed station, the adjacent listed hotel and on views of St Paul鈥檚 Cathedral.

The application amassed more than 2,200 objections from members of the public and was also recommended for refusal by two neighbouring councils, Westminster and Hackney.

Network Rail鈥檚 new project team includes Aecom on engineering and transport, Certo as project manager, 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.

Scott Brownrigg, which had been working with Sellar as transport architect, is no longer working with Network Rail on the scheme.