黑洞社区

Sellar and Network Rail鈥檚 拢1.5bn plans to redevelop Liverpool Street station in the City of London have been met by a huge wave of opposition from members of the public and its official consultees in the last few months.

More than 2,000 objections have been attached to the planning application since it was made public last October from people opposing its perceived impact on the grade II-listed Victorian station.

In all, 2,152 objections have been lodged while just 28 letters of support have been sent in.

Two neighbouring councils, Westminster and Hackney, have also lodged official objections along with several heritage groups serving as statutory consultees to the application, including government advisor Historic England.

Designed by Stirling Prize-winning practice Herzog & de Meuron, the scheme would see a 20-storey office building cantilevered above the adjoining grade II*-listed former Great Eastern Hotel and a 1980s extension to the main station building demolished.

Concourse areas inside the station would be extensively redesigned with a new roof structure and three oval-shaped escalators, and views of the train shed which are currently obscured would be opened up.

The unusually large number of objections will be considered by the City鈥檚 planning officers in their recommendation to approve or reject the scheme ahead of its planning committee decision, which the council says could be towards the end of this year.

One objector who had worked on the successful campaign in the 1970s to save the station from demolition described Sellar鈥檚 proposed redevelopment as 鈥渂arbaric鈥�.

鈥淚 was a member of the original Liverpool Street Station Campaign in the 1970s, which saved the historic station from being converted into an overdeveloped version of Euston,鈥� George Allan said. 

鈥淭he compromise outcome won plaudits from both the architectural and conservation communities. Now, this achievement is under threat.鈥�

Another objector, Victoria Blackie, wrote: 鈥淭his is not Dubai, we love our heritage and want to see it in our city so please let us keep our heritage and stop rebuilding London and making it bland concrete and steel. 

鈥淭oo many interesting buildings have already gone, you are ruining the character and heritage of our capital city and changing it into a boring, faceless place that could be in any country or town.鈥�

Hackney council has objected to the proposals due to potentially harmful effects to the nearby South Shoreditch Conservation Area, which it said had not been addressed in the application鈥檚 heritage assessment.

The council added that it 鈥渟hares the view of many other stakeholders that the proposals, by virtue of their sheer, overwhelming bulk and monolithic scale and form, represent 鈥榮ubstantial harm鈥欌�� to the former Great Eastern Hotel, the Bishopsgate conservation area and the New Broad Street conservation area.

Westminster, though further away from the site than Hackney, is objecting to the scheme based on its perceived impact on views of St Paul鈥檚 Cathedral from the west. 

It said the proposed 20-storey block would appear directly behind the cathedral, eroding its silhouette by blocking out an area which is currently clear sky and appearing to draw the City鈥檚 eastern cluster of towers closer.

Tower Hamlets, which is the closest London borough to Liverpool Street station, is yet to provide its response to the City.

Historic England has long opposed the redevelopment, describing it in 2022 as 鈥渙versized and insensitive鈥� and making it clear that it would submit a strong objection if a planning application was submitted.

The body has now followed through on its warning with a stinging official objection opposing the plans on the 鈥渟trongest terms鈥�, arguing the scheme would cause 鈥渆xtraordinarily high levels of harm to a number of designated heritage assets, some of the greatest importance鈥�.

鈥淭he proposals would entirely remove the significance of the 1992 trainshed and profoundly damage the character of the station as a whole,鈥� it said.

鈥淭hey would undermine the special historic and architectural significance of the hotel through the alterations proposed to change its use, physical reorganisation and the addition of a highly overbearing upward extension.鈥�

The letter of objection said this harm would go 鈥渢o the heart鈥� of the significance of the site while agreeing with Westminster council鈥檚 concerns over the scheme鈥檚 impact on St Paul鈥檚.

Like many other objectors, Historic England also argued that the scheme appeared to breach several parts of the National Planning Policy Frameworks鈥� requirements for sustainable building, which it described as 鈥渄eeply concerning鈥�.

鈥淭hese proposals would procure extensive commercial development, coupled with improvements to transport infrastructure, at the expense of extraordinary harm to the capital鈥檚 historic environment,鈥� it said.

Other consultees which have lodged strongly worded objections include the Victorian Society, Save Britain鈥檚 Heritage, the Georgian Group and Historic 黑洞社区s and Places.

Sellar and Network Rail have said the development can do for Liverpool Street what work at other transport hubs in the capital has done for their surrounds.

Sellar development director Barry Ostle said last year that 鈥渢he scheme that will emerge in terms of the public consultation will have responded to people鈥檚 views that have come through over the last couple of months and I think you will see some fantastic enhancements to it鈥�.

He added: 鈥淲hat is emerging is a building that I would describe as having an extremely calm, almost serene feel to it that would sit in a very respectful counter-position to the Victorian building.鈥�

Under Sellar鈥檚 timetable, work could start in the second half of next year with the job being completed in 2029.

Others working on the Liverpool Street deal include cost consultant and project manager G&T, engineer WSP and landscape firm Townshend. Mace is providing pre-construction advice.