Liverpool Street Station ‘endangered’ due to Network Rail and Sellar redevelopment plans - Victorian Society

Liverpool Street Station and the former Great Eastern Hotel have featured in a list of the UK’s most endangered buildings, due to controversial plans to redevelop the central London railway hub.

The Victorian Society, which drew up the list, says the planned work by Network Rail and developer Sellar will “demolish much of the sympathetic 20th century trainshed which closely matches the Victorian original, severing the link between the two listed buildings and cantilever a 21-storey tower above the hotel and station”.

The Society claims this is “unprecedented” in a Grade-II listed building, and is collecting donations to back a legal fight against the plans.

Sellar says the original Liverpool Street Station was largely demolished in the 1980s, at which point it was replaced with the current concourse and facilities.

A spokesperson said Sellar’s plans will protect and restore the remaining Victorian elements, while delivering £450m of station improvements to address “severe accessibility and overcrowding issues”.

These include restoring the Grade-II listed Andaz hotel, which originally opened as the Great Eastern Hotel in 1884, as well as the creation of green spaces, sports courts and swimming pool in a new roof garden.

The spokesperson continued: “Our proposals are essential in helping London maintain its status as a world-class city and encouraging people back to the capital by significantly improving the experience for the station’s millions of commuters and other users. The transformation will create a sustainable transportation hub, fit for future generations.”

Griff Rhys Jones, Victorian Society President and President of the Campaign to Save Liverpool Street Station (LISSCA), said: “The society won the fight to save Liverpool Street Station in the 1970s, and it also saved St Pancras Station too. We have to win this time because all listed buildings are at stake if the proposals to build so cavalierly on top of the station and hotel go through.”

Other buildings to be featured in the list include Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths, Trowse Sewage Pumping Stations in Norwich, and The Constitutional Club in Lincoln.