A CONTROVERSIAL £1.5bn proposal to redevelop London Liverpool Street station with a new hotel and 109 metre high office block over part of the site has gone forward to a formal planning application. The plans were first revealed last November.
Network Rail, Elizabeth line operator MTR, together with property design specialist Sellar (who were involved with the Shard and Paddington Square projects) have jointly applied for planning consent for a regeneration and upgrade of Liverpool Street station.
As well as the hotel and office block situated in two towers above the station – one 15 storeys high, the other up to 21 with a rooftop cafe and swimming pool – there is a proposal valued at £450m to address capacity and overcrowding problems and improve access for disabled passengers. These upgrades are to be funded privately as part of the overall project.
Around the station and Hope Square, a new public space of 1.5 hectares would be created, and the neo-Victorian building used by McDonalds fronting on to Liverpool Street will be demolished. While the project would ensure the station’s heritage features would be protected, and in some cases restored, the proposal envisages changes to the concourse to enable the Victorian train shed – which
