A Grand Central Station
Here's a mad one.
Did you know that plans exist for a new railway station to replace New Street on a completely different site? Check out this map.
The logic is that New Street currently suffers from a bottleneck on the east where six lines merge into two. This is currently not a major issue but as rail travel increases, as it's due to over the next few decades, the much vaunted rebuilding of the station might, just might, find itself at capacity sooner than would be desired for a £550m project. Instead, by moving the station into what's currently the area between Moor Street and the old Curzon Street Stations, New Street can be mothballed and a massive new station, worthy of a 21st century City, can lead us into the bright integrated transportation future.
Here's the sexy concept drawing for you to ponder next time you're descending into New Street.
The New Street development is, of course, not just a railway station. One of the main aims is to remove the carbuncle that currently separates the Mailbox from the rest of the city and open the whole thing up. Naturally this involves plenty more shops but that's what that area of the centre is for. So whatever happens to the railways, New Street is going to be redone. That's a given.
It's worth noting that while the New Street Gateway (as it's known) has the support of all parties in the council as well as all the regional development agencies, Grand Central Station is being pushed by Arup, a "global design and business consulting firm", pretty much alone.
That's not to say Arup don't have a point, New Street Gateway does stink of compromise. No matter how big the glass atrium is the platforms will still be underground and it can't practically get any bigger.
That said, if Arup did get their way that large patch of grass, something of a rare commodity in central Birmingham, would be replaced by a massive structure dominating the area and completely cutting off Digbeth. Not to mention the inevitable destruction of old redbrick buildings in that area. According to that map it's not just the grass in front of Curzon Street that'll go. While the map doesn't quite match the Digbeth I can see on my A-Z it looks like whole chunks of Fazeley Street will go along with sections of the canal network. I don't know if you've ever seen the area behind Euston and Kings Cross stations in London but it's not pretty. Goodbye Learning and Cultural quarter.
I don't think this plan is going anywhere. While it might have the numbers and be a theoretically sound it's pretty disconnected from the reality of Birmingham. And even if it came to pass the area currently known as New Street Station would still have to be redeveloped. That's not to say it's not a neat idea though.
Further reading:
Monday's Birmingham Post reports the news and offers some shit-stirring commentary. Quality journalism there chaps.
Arup's Grand Central Station project page has a number of PDFs from which the above images were taken.
I got the news from West Midlands NO! who I'm keeping tabs on, not for their opinions but because when people hate they seek out targets for that hate. This saves me a lot of work in monitoring stuff about Birmingham's regeneration.
Did you know that plans exist for a new railway station to replace New Street on a completely different site? Check out this map.
The logic is that New Street currently suffers from a bottleneck on the east where six lines merge into two. This is currently not a major issue but as rail travel increases, as it's due to over the next few decades, the much vaunted rebuilding of the station might, just might, find itself at capacity sooner than would be desired for a £550m project. Instead, by moving the station into what's currently the area between Moor Street and the old Curzon Street Stations, New Street can be mothballed and a massive new station, worthy of a 21st century City, can lead us into the bright integrated transportation future.
Here's the sexy concept drawing for you to ponder next time you're descending into New Street.
The New Street development is, of course, not just a railway station. One of the main aims is to remove the carbuncle that currently separates the Mailbox from the rest of the city and open the whole thing up. Naturally this involves plenty more shops but that's what that area of the centre is for. So whatever happens to the railways, New Street is going to be redone. That's a given.
It's worth noting that while the New Street Gateway (as it's known) has the support of all parties in the council as well as all the regional development agencies, Grand Central Station is being pushed by Arup, a "global design and business consulting firm", pretty much alone.
That's not to say Arup don't have a point, New Street Gateway does stink of compromise. No matter how big the glass atrium is the platforms will still be underground and it can't practically get any bigger.
That said, if Arup did get their way that large patch of grass, something of a rare commodity in central Birmingham, would be replaced by a massive structure dominating the area and completely cutting off Digbeth. Not to mention the inevitable destruction of old redbrick buildings in that area. According to that map it's not just the grass in front of Curzon Street that'll go. While the map doesn't quite match the Digbeth I can see on my A-Z it looks like whole chunks of Fazeley Street will go along with sections of the canal network. I don't know if you've ever seen the area behind Euston and Kings Cross stations in London but it's not pretty. Goodbye Learning and Cultural quarter.
I don't think this plan is going anywhere. While it might have the numbers and be a theoretically sound it's pretty disconnected from the reality of Birmingham. And even if it came to pass the area currently known as New Street Station would still have to be redeveloped. That's not to say it's not a neat idea though.
Further reading:
Monday's Birmingham Post reports the news and offers some shit-stirring commentary. Quality journalism there chaps.
Arup's Grand Central Station project page has a number of PDFs from which the above images were taken.
I got the news from West Midlands NO! who I'm keeping tabs on, not for their opinions but because when people hate they seek out targets for that hate. This saves me a lot of work in monitoring stuff about Birmingham's regeneration.
2 Comments:
It's going to cost £550m to carry out this project at New Street and Ove Arup says that it won't last beyond 2025. They do, of course, have a vested interest in New Street being abandoned but they say the New Street project isn't a good use of public money. If the DfT review the proposals it might set the project back a bit but if Ove Arup is right then it means £550m of taxpayers money would be saved from being poured into a wasteful project. When AWM has zero scrutiny from the public on how they spend our money, it's hardly a great concession to insist on a review of the proposal before they commit any of our money to it. It's not as if they're strangers to arguing with the DfT - they gave millions to build Rotherwas Access Road after the DfT rejected it multiple times because it wasn't needed. At the end of the day, if they're going to give away millions of pounds of our taxes, the least they can do is make sure what is being built isn't going to be a waste of money.
I am more or less in agreement with focalplane on this.
My impression is that Birmingham needs an expansive commuter station and a long distance station. Both cannot exist at New Street unless there's a major horizontal or vertical expansion, and either one would just put more pressure on the concourse and points of entry/exit. Not practical, not good for the city centre. Birmingham needs to expand the central core, and Eastside is a good place for it. (NB)
Better that New Street is either downgraded to commuter status and left much as is, or upgraded to landmark status - which means demolishing the banal structure on top of it and turning the forecourt into a world-beating gateway to the BullRing. But the current New Street proposal is almost as banal as the existing structure. It would be boring, commerce-led retail space. Nothing worth seeing. Crap. The upshot is that New Street has been killed dead with regard to becoming a landmark gateway.
On the other hand, the historic remains of Curzon Street can be sensitively incorporated into a really fine mainline landmark gateway to the city. Or Landor Street can be turned into a mainline passenger station by rerouting mainline trains north via Perry Barr, bypassing New Street and reducing pressure on it.
The proximity of Millennium Point is a plus too, since the historic engineering displays could be extended right into a concourse. In that way, people on passing trains would see engineering marvels from their seats, and once they came off the train could wander through a potted history of Midlands engineering history. Fab!
So, leave New Street as is, build a phenomenal gateway station for mainline trains at Curzon Street or Landor Street. Birmingham would have something fit for purpose well into the future and do something really useful for Eastside development.
The real question is not about siting a station, but vision. Can the idiots currently in charge of envisioning the future Birmingham comprehend something well and truly glorious? Current form indicates that they cannot.
NB: Keep in mind that the demolished Parcelforce depot is private land scheduled for commercial development with student dormitories next to the Middleway. It's not a learning quarter. With the Richard Rogers library scheme cancelled, and the narrowness of 'City Park' there's actually quite a bit of space for platforms and concourse development at Curzon Street.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home