Construction cost of Sellar job over railway station set at north of £500m

A huge scheme to redevelop Liverpool Street station which include proposals by Herzog & de Meuron for a 20-storey block above part of the concourse are expected to go in to City planners next spring, Building understands.

Shard developer Sellar is speaking to Network Rail about the job which will involve creating over one million sq ft of mixed-use space at the site as well as revamping the third busiest station in the country with new entrances at its southern end. It will also include building a new two-level concourse which is designed to reduce overcrowding at the station.

Mace, which was behind Sellar’s Shard scheme and its current Paddington Square development, both designed by Renzo Piano, is providing pre-construction advice – although the job will go out to tender.

liv street 1

Work will include improving the station’s southern entrance close to an existing McDonald’s restaurant

Already contractors are on high alert about the scheme which is estimated to have a construction cost of at least between £500m and £600m.

The scheme would be the Swiss architect’s first tall building in the City, although it is behind a completed 58-storey cylindrical skyscraper in Canary Wharf called One Park Drive which has close to 500 apartments.

Others working on the Liverpool Street deal, which has been given the codename Project Mersey, include cost consultant G&T and engineer WSP. Sellar has formed a joint venture for the work called Mersey 1 Ltd.

In a so-called transparency notice published last December, Network Rail said: “The station has significant overcrowding problems. The current conditions at the station are predicted to get worse as a result of forecast growth in passenger arrivals and interchanges.”

The notice said the overall cost to complete the job would be around £1.55bn.

Work planned will include a new office block above the station while the existing Andaz hotel at the station will be revamped.

Sellar has development rights over the Andaz hotel, while Network Rail owns the Victorian 50 Liverpool Street Building, which would be demolished to improve station access.

Network Rail has previously said it hopes to sign a deal with the Sellar JV, which also includes Hong Kong-based transport operator MTR, by January next year.

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