i LOVE CITIES AND I LOVE EXPLORING THE PLACES WITHIN THE CITIES. AS PART OF THE PLACEs series of blogs, i look at new developments across london and give my take on what works and what doesn't in the capitals new places.
There is something unashamedly British about the excitement created by a freshly renovated train station. Following facelifts of both King’s Cross and St Pancras, London Bridge is the capital’s latest terminus to get the makeover treatment — to the tune of a cool £1 billion. Five years in the making, the redeveloped station is finally due for completion this summer.
The new undulating canopies seen from The Shard in winter.
The UK’s fourth-busiest station, London Bridge welcomes 54 million passengers annually. Thameslink’s announcement that they planned to increase this number by introducing a metro-style service — with up to 24 services per hour —on their cross-London routes from December 2019 meant that serious redevelopment was needed. And all while the station remained operational.
This increase in capacity would have been difficult for any station, but London Bridge came with a unique set of issues. Having opened in 1839, London Bridge is one of the world’s oldest stations and its Victorian infrastructure was notoriously hard to navigate, with its warren-like maze of tunnels and escalators a constant confusion for modern commuters.
The redevelopment has seen the creation of four new platforms and a reflexive, rippling roof that undulates above the waiting passengers. The new roof is the station’s most eye-catching new addition and yet it is most impressive from above, which means that it’s largely wasted on those millions of passengers who may never see its full impact.
Beneath the platforms, an expansive passenger concourse has been hollowed out of vaults once home to grungy nightclubs, lock-up garages, and the old London Dungeon. While offering a much needed north-south connection, the concourse also provides a single access point to all the station’s platforms for the first time in its history.
To the south, the new St Thomas Street facade provides a clean re-imagining of the original Victorian brickwork detailing to create an active frontage to the station’s once forgotten southern side. The sweep of arches is already being populated by cafes and restaurants, linking the station to the nearby lively Bermondsey Street.
The brand new retail arcade linking London Bridge train station with the Underground station.
At its northern side, the concourse’s modern new entrance opens out onto Tooley Street and the More London development beyond. While the old South Eastern Railway building has been demolished to make way for an underwhelming public space, the Shipwright’s Arms, a local landmark, has survived the cull of regeneration.
The redevelopment’s hidden gem sits at the heart of the project: a vaulted retail arcade linking the new concourse with the underground station. The captivating arcade represents station owner National Rail’s most ambitious retail strategy to date, with the introduction of almost 9,000 sq. m of retail floorspace significantly boosting National Rail’s revenue stream.
London Bridge station is undoubtedly a feat of engineering. It may not meet everyone’s aesthetic, but it’s hard to deny that the new station is a success. It set out to create an accessible, legible new station brings together disconnected neighbourhoods and celebrates its Victorian legacy. It has managed that on all counts. Now if only they could get the trains to run on time...
