London isn’t the only UK city with an underground train network: Glasgow, Newcastle and Liverpool all boast subterranean rail services as well – and now the country’s busiest non-London underground station could be getting a massive upgrade.
That’s right: there are plans to give Liverpool Central Station, which is served by Merseyrail’s Northern and Wirral lines, a huge glow up. Here’s what we know about the project.
The contract is estimated to be worth around £1 million, and that will be divided into two lots to cover transport and regeneration costs. Various architectural firms will be bidding for the commission, and according to Architects Journal, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will be evaluating them 70 percent on quality and 30 percent on cost.
It hasn’t actually been that long since the last project was undertaken at the station, which serves more than 40,000 people per day. Back in 2012, £40 million was funnelled into a refurbishment to improve the platforms and concourse, but the aim of this current project is to enhance passenger and operational capacity.
It’s thought that this refurb could even include plans to accommodate high speed trains, as a £12 billion investment into the Northern Powerhouse Rail project was just announced by the government.
However, the works won’t be limited to the station building. The brief describes this as a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’ to also redevelop the surrounding area, including buildings on Renshaw Street, Bold Street, and Ranelagh Street, and provide an ‘enhanced gateway to the city centre.
The deadline for submissions is Thursday April 18, and the contract will likely be awarded in May, so hopefully we’ll know a lot more then.
All glown-up
There are bags of upgrades happening across the UK at all times, but the revamp to Manchester’s Gay Village and the long-awaited reopening of this Scottish museum are some of the latest ones we’ve recently covered.
And Liverpool Central Station isn’t even the only rail hub with a massive upgrade on the cards at the moment – Manchester’s Oxford Road station will soon be subject to a £2.7 million development.
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