Proposals to expand Liverpool Street train station by building a 19-storey tower block over the concourse should be rejected because of their poor environmental credentials, according to campaigners.
Save Britain’s Heritage and the Victorian Society are part of a coalition of groups saying the “destructive” £1bn plans should be thrown out on sustainability grounds and because they would fail to meet “net zero” targets.
Network Rail submitted revised plans in April to the City of London Corporation, the planning authority for the area, to build a 97m tower block on top of the station, part of which dates to Victorian times.
Liverpool St station has become the busiest train station in the county, largely due to the popularity of the Elizabeth line. Network Rail wants to use the commercial development to help fund about £500m of improvements to the station.
The revised plans are 11m shorter than the 21-storey, 108m scheme first proposed by Sellar, with the support of Network Rail.
According to the City Corporation, a total of 3,172 people have commented on the plans – 1,071 in favour and 2,101 against.
A date for the City’s planning committee to consider the plans has yet to be announced.
It has already been reported that the scheme faces a £220m funding gap and is relying on an upturn in commercial property development to become viable.
Now a “carbon report” commissioned by LISSCA (the Liverpool Street Station Campaign)claimed the application breaches a significant number of national and local environmental policies.
Simon Sturgis, managing partner of Targeting Zero and a government advisor on sustainability, said the scheme represents “a huge and unnecessary waste of resources” by proposing extensive demolition of useable station fabric and failing to examine retrofitting options for 50 Liverpool Street – the adjacent building that includes the McDonald’s restaurant - in any detail.
He said it was “likely to be commercially redundant on completion”, performing poorly against national and local net zero targets.
The report states: “This proposal shows minimal ambition or intention to meet current best practice in terms of low carbon construction, or the UK’s trajectory to net zero.”
Henrietta Billings, director of Save, said: “It is shocking that a building designed in 2025 should be based on a 1990s rationale.
“The design and construction industry has made huge strides in the face of the climate emergency and there is no longer any excuse for last-century thinking. We urge the City of London to give this application the short shrift it deserves."
James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society, said: "This report shines a stark and revealing light on one of the profound shortcomings of the Liverpool Street scheme.
“Network Rail claims that its scheme is environmentally exemplary. What this report demonstrates is that the scheme is anything but.”
A spokesperson for Network Rail said: “As Britain’s busiest station, Liverpool Street is long overdue the transformation it deserves.
“The current station can’t accommodate expected growth. This investment in sustainable transport will allow the station to grow from 115m to 150m passengers per annum and beyond, while enhancing accessibility for all.
“The redevelopment of Liverpool Street makes a vast contribution to reducing the carbon footprint in London through the significant upgrade which will enable 2 billion additional passengers to undertake sustainable journeys over the next 60 years.
“Network Rail’s planning application: proposes a new office building in the most-connected location in London, sited directly adjacent to the UK's busiest transport hub; is designed to emit no carbon in use, and use low carbon materiality in construction; and will utilise all proceeds from the development to fund transport improvements for the Network Rail and TfL station which are vital for the capital's infrastructure.
“The vast majority of the existing station is being retained and refurbished. 50 Liverpool Street and its supportive structural columns, will be removed to allow the London Underground ticket hall below it to be enhanced and improved, both in terms of passenger capacity and accessibility. This is critical to improving the connections between the underground and overground services and to enabling this passenger growth.”
However, the Sturgis report is the latest criticism of the plans. Mr Sturgis was previously involved in the unsuccessful battle to save the Marble Arch Marks & Spencer store.
Historic England says the scheme would cause a “high degree of harm” to the listed station and would “fundamentally alter the relationship between the station and its surrounding context” by dominating its Victorian streetscape and setting.
Tower Hamlets council has warned that the proposed tower block would sit “awkwardly” on top of the station’s main entrance and “overpower” and “undermine” the area between the City and the East End.
Transport for London said it supported the plans on a strategic level but raised concerns at the knock-on demand on the Elizabeth line and Tube resulting from temporary reductions in the number of “mainline” trains accessing the station during the construction period.
TfL also said it was essential that “level boarding” was introduced on its London Overground services and on the Tube platforms in the Underground station.
London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, during an appearance at the Mipim property conference in Cannes, championed the plans.
The Greater London Authority said in its response to the City Corporation that the proposals would result in “less than substantial harm to the significance of Liverpool Street Station”.
The GLA response said: “GLA officers consider that the proposed public benefits have the potential to outweigh the harm to the assets identified above. However, a final balancing exercise will be undertaken at Stage 2 once the public benefits package is secured.”
