Developers line up to bid for £4bn stations overhaul

Developers are lining up to bid for Network Rail’s £4bn station upgrade programme.

Stanhope, Helical Bar, British Land and Land Securities are among firms that have made clear their interest in modernising key London stations.

It is thought that British Land will submit proposals for Euston and Land Securities for Victoria. It is also understood that housebuilders, not commercial developers, will submit proposals for developments outside London where there is more scope for building around the station.

Network Rail will release market documents to selected parties in the next couple of weeks. These will lay out the options for individual sites.

Land Securities is favourite for the Victoria upgrade because it is working on a masterplan for the area around the station. The developer has commissioned US architect Kohn Pedersen Fox to work up a masterplan for the land, most of which it owns.

The plans, details of which have been seen by Building, will include Britain’s first underground bus station, which would be put beneath the station building, to clear the site for a public plaza.

Steve McGuckin, development director at Land Securities, said it would form part of an integrated transport exchange, with the bus, underground and train stations all accommodated in the same building.

Getting the transport right is key to the whole project

Steve McGuckin, Land Securities

Transport consultant Steer Davies Gleave is working on the proposals.

McGuckin said: “Getting the transport right is key to the whole project. Ideally, we’d like to have a transport hub, which means we would have more space for public realm. We want to regenerate the heart of Victoria.”

The mixed-use scheme, which mayor Ken Livingstone has given his backing to, would also include leisure, retail, residential and a hotel.

At the end of next month Land Securities will submit its response to a Westminster planning brief for the area. If accepted, the proposals will pave the way for a detailed planning application in mid-2006.

Meanwhile, at Euston, Sydney and London Properties, the company that owns the area around the station, said it was keen to work with the selected developer to regenerate the wider area. Last week it launched a consultation into the future of the site.

It is also thought that any development at Waterloo will have to take into account the mayor’s as-yet-unpublished proposals to build two or three 40-storey towers on the concourse over the station.