The controversial plans to rebuild much of Liverpool Street station depend on one crucial argument – that they are the only way to significantly improve the experience of using the terminus. In order to reduce crowding on escalators and at ticket barriers, says the consortium that wants to develop it, its cathedral-scaled concourse has to be demolished and replaced with a two-level arrangement, to pay for which a 16-storey office block will have to be perched over the station and the neighbouring Great Eastern hotel (now called the Andaz), both of which are listed buildings.
In which case, you would think that the developers would shout their evidence from the rooftops. Instead, some underwhelming data trickles out in the 467 documents that accompany their planning application, which have recently become public. They show that some but not all of the station’s bottlenecks would be alleviated, and don’t conclusively prove that the same ends could be achieved by less drastic means. The developers also say that their improvements would cost the improbably vast sum of £450m, but refuse to show the workings behind the figure on the basis of “commercial confidentiality”.
