The Society regularly reviews current planning applications to consider the impact of proposed work on the City’s heritage.
A summary of our regular updates is included in each year’s annual report.
Update (19 November 2023)
Liverpool Street Station Redevelopment
Application: 23/00453/FULEIA
This absurd proposal continues to be the most concerning of all new projects in the City. The City Heritage Society has objected to the redevelopment, primarily on the grounds that the massing of the proposal is out of scale in its context and that the hugely damaging changes to a Grade II* listed site would undermine the protections supposedly given to listed buildings.
The Victorian Society, whose President Gryff Rhys Jones is leading a coalition against the redevelopment, makes the following points:
- Liverpool Street Station would be partially demolished with a huge tower cantilevered through and over the Grade II* listed hotel
- Commuters would face 10 years of disruption
- The train sheds and concourse would be in constant gloom under the tower
- Improvements the scheme claims to pay for are already happening
- The plans would set a terrible precedent meaning no listed building is safe from having a tower built on top
- The so called ‘eco tower’ would require huge amounts of carbon emissions for its construction
- There is no justification for new offices in this area