London Bridge Station Approved

It would appear that the conservation lobby was overruled and the new station proposals (subject to some legal stuff) have planning consent.
Hopefully Network Rail and their contractors Costain will now give lots of thought as to how they will deliver it without making all our lives a misery. Despite some noise issues Mace seem to have done a pretty good job with the Shard given how much they had to do in so little space but I fear that the station will be even more difficult given the sheer scale of the demolition involved and the prolonged period of construction through to 2018.
Still after over 100 years of waiting for something to be done to sort the mess that is the current station out perhaps we should be grateful that something is finally going to happen.

Good news. Whilst the design could perhaps have been more inspiring we have to weigh that against the back drop of the financial climate and that something desperately needs to be done to the station. Here's hoping no-one is stupid enough to try to delay it further...

Yes brilliant news. Here's to the whole of SE1 looking like a giant airport waiting lounge within 20 years.

Quote:

Mr Blanchflower [Network Rail] was questioned by Cllr Robin Crookshank-Hilton about the proposed demolition of the South Eastern Railway offices. He said: "All the advice we are getting is that ... the complexities of passenger movement in that area actually preclude the retention of [the South Eastern Railway building] if we want to maintain a safe environment for passengers."

It hardly comes less convincing than that.

It obviously convinced at least 5 of the committee and that was all they needed!
I know that some people will be pretty sore today particularly the throats of those that did themselves no favours last night by screaming and shouting at the decision.
The passenger flows are actually the most persuasive of all the arguments (not bomb protection et al)and actually we should be asking of Southwark what they intend to do to ensure that Network Rail design and pay for improvements to Tooley Street from Bermondsey Street to London Bridge to make sure that all these passengers are properly catered for when they move beyond the space created by the loss of the SER offices and that the life of Tooley Street including all the attractions and retail can continue to function in a better not a more conjested environment.
The new entrances are desperately needed and the limitations of the much vaunted Shard concourse are already becoming apparent without the additional strain of the olympics or the passenger growth that Thameslink will bring when additional trains are arriving every three minutes in both directions.
Good generals choose their battles carefully and the SER offices was the wrong one!
Its loss however always did provide some significant justification for recompence for the community to get broader environmental improvements and whilst no one seemed to want to switch tack to fighting for that prior to the planning decision, maybe it can be focussed on now that the battle for the building is lost. (please don't tell me BVAG and co are going to carry on fighting!?!).

How to sterilize a street:





Btw, Regenerate, "recompence" is a cute neologism.

As usual the decision was a done deal before anyone entered the room last night.

The councillors deciding on this last night were a joke (Robin excepted).

Quite why the projected increase of traffic down Bermondsey Street (over 300%!) was ignored, and Nick Stanton chose to waste at least 30 minutes of my life discussing whether Network Rail will install 'boutique' shops in the concourse sums up everything that is wrong with Southwark Council.

I wholly support BVAG in retaining our heritage. I also fully support that the station needs redeveloping.
London Bridge should be a world class transport hub. Within 10 years of completion the proposed plan will look much like Euston Station, and the only people significantly benefiting will be those that will no longer need to get off their train at the station!

To suffer 6 years of construction and traffic chaos to produce a mediocre plan isn't acceptable.

Mark, sorry to say I don't like either elevation, the first is mediochre badly proportioned classicism typical of much of the economically driven railway architecture of its time but not exceptional or unique and the second is mediochre modernism in a brick suit representative of the economically driven railway architecture that we will get post financial crash. Camden were lucky they got their stations designed at the peak of a boom. We got a very expensive Blackfriars roof but the rest has been stripped back and London Bridge only got approved at all by DfT because the 4.5 billion they had already spent would not deliver any real benefit without it and that would have been slightly embarrassing. It was the last and essential piece in the puzzle but there was no money left in the bag to pay for it.

Incidentally, or perhaps not, Network Rail already had permission to demolish the building through the implemented previous consent.Hence in my view JimExpl is correct but not through any conspiracy of the councilors, it was a battle lost before you took to the field.

First "recompence", then "mediochre". Respect.

Well, we both dislike the proposed frontage, but many, including Conran, don't sympathize with your urbane reasoning against the SER office frontage.

I simply don't believe there can't be a creative solution to retain the SER frontage and turn the contrast to aesthetic advantage.

Yes the spelling left something to be desired but its difficult to proof read on a phone. Still lucky there's always a smart arse around when you need one to pick up on it. Do you realign the towels on the towel rail as well? keep your pencils in nice neat rows?
Whether there is an alternative solution or not would seem to be academic now, rather like you!
As for the views of the man who gave us flat pack furniture and the chicken brick, well I guess his view is as valid as anyone elses but not more so.