Sellar still eyeing development partner role on £1bn Liverpool Street station redevelopment

Sellar is still hoping to work with Network Rail as development partner on the scaled back £1bn redevelopment of Liverpool Street station despite no longer having an official role on the project.

Building understands the developer has been regularly meeting with Network Rail’s property arm, with the most recent taking place last Thursday.

Network Rail Property has taken control of the project and has unveiled a set of radically different proposals for the station designed by Acme, replacing former lead architect Herzog & de Meuron.

The transport operator said it plans to appoint a development partner only after the scheme is granted planning permission, with a planning committee date expected towards the middle of next year.

A project insider told Building it was “clear the contours had shifted” but that Sellar would still be “interested in continuing as development partner”, although it is currently too early to know what form the arrangement would take.

Sellar and Herzog & de Meuron had been redesigning their own version of the scheme after the original plans, submitted last year, were criticised by heritage groups, members of the public and neighbouring London boroughs.

The current application has still not been withdrawn from the City of London’s planning portal and the developer is now planning to release images and details of the revised plans for the first time.

A source involved in the redesign claimed Herzog & de Meuron had been given a “very difficult brief” by Network Rail but had “finally cracked it” following a “long process of improvement”.

Herzog & de Meuron’s highly controversial initial designs would have seen a 20-storey office development cantilevered above the grade II*-listed former Great Eastern Hotel and large parts of the grade II-listed station’s Victorian-style 1980s extension replaced with a contemporary design of white-coloured arches.

It is understood that the firm’s revised designs would have retained the entirety of the station extension’s existing roof structure while rebuilding its concourse.

Under Acme’s new proposal, which is expected to cost around £500m less to build than the previous scheme, a large part of the station’s roof would be removed to make way for structures to support the overstation office development.

Network Rail Property group property director Robin Dobson has said the new application, which is currently out for consultation, is expected to be submitted to the City of London within the next two months.

Network Rail Property has been contacted for comment.