The CBA objects to controversial plans for Liverpool Street Station

The Council for British Archaeology have registered a strong objection to proposals to develop Liverpool Street Station, which have drawn condemnation from across the heritage sector. 

The plans would demolish parts of the listed station building and of the Grade II* hotel adjacent, with a huge new building constructed on top of the historic site. The CBA casework team’s response criticised the excessive scale and massing of the proposed new towers, which would totally dominate the streetscape, and the extent of the proposed demolition works to the iconic station complex.  

The insertion of a tall new structure through and above a Grade II* listed building would be a very unwelcome precedent to set, and the CBA believe that it would cause substantial harm to the hotel and the whole station complex. Historic England’s highly critical statement said the proposed towers ‘are of grossly disproportionate scale and would trample on the station and the former Great Eastern Hotel’. It would be a wholly unsympathetic and unsuitable addition to the Victorian site, which is currently a key feature of the Bishopsgate Conservation Area and notable part of the City of London’s world-famous historic landscape.  

The plans would cause considerable disruption to station users, and the CBA have recommended that a more sensitive approach could retain much more of the station’s historic fabric while still delivering improved access to trains. This would reduce the need for large-scale development, causing less harm to the heritage of the site, and also minimising travel disruption. 

You can read our full response to the planning application on our casework database. 

The CBA are part of the Liverpool Street Station Campaign (LISCCA), which is fighting to prevent the harmful proposals. The campaign is fundraising to cover legal costs: you can help by donating!