moving
forward LEARNING FROM PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Atkins’ proposal for Birmingham New Street Station included both comprehensive redevelopment and reorganisation of interchange facilities.
ALL CHANGE: PUBLIC TRANSPORT
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Some railway station schemes are simply about transport, says Warwick Lowe, transport development director at Atkins. They improve the concourse, add a few shops and clean up the immediate environment – but that’s about it. Others do more. They take the chance to regenerate an area, spark economic activity and bring communities to life. “There is this concept in home design of indoor-outdoor living, where the outdoors is brought indoors and the indoors is brought outdoors. That is how it should be for stations,” says Lowe. “The ideal railway station ends up in a large open square, with space on all sides for cafés, that pedestrians, cyclists and buses can all navigate easily, allowing people to flow naturally into the city. It blurs the line between where the station ends and where the city begins.” Lowe highlights Atkins’ recent proposals for Belfast’s
Great Victoria Street Station, Euston in central London and Barking in east London. Each, he says, offers tremendous possibilities as catalysts for urban improvement. “Most of the time, proposals focus on cosmetic
improvements because they generate more passenger revenue than when it was falling down. At Belfast, Barking, and Euston we have proposed new public spaces that allow the station to function better as part of the community,” he says. “It’s not only about adding a few shops to the stations. The real benefits are in making the station the hub for local activity; improving the flow of the area.” There are lessons to be learned from successful urban
station projects abroad, too. Luca Bertolini, professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Amsterdam, says that the best examples can be found in Asia. “Tokyo station is the icon for this kind of idea. Stations in
Japan are urban centres. Urban ‘centres’ and ‘stations’ are totally intertwined. These places have great potential for
The condition of railway stations across the UK is under fire, criticised for failing to meet basic standards in terms of facilities, appearance and ease of access. Faced with funding difficulties inherent to the current economic climate, what can we learn from successful overseas public transport models?
cities, for accessibility and sustainability. But the challenge is to develop them as places, not just as an interchange,” says Bertolini. “Building outside the city is easier, but inside you already have other things already there. If you can integrate them, you can offer much more to people.”
Go with the flow Great Victoria Street Station dates from 1839, but was closed in 1976. A new station was opened near the original site in 1995. But, according to Lowe, it remains hidden from the main street, one of Belfast’s most prestigious thoroughfares. The most important rail services (serving Dublin, for instance) operate from Belfast Central, which is not as central as Victoria Street. The masterplan, created by Atkins and which Lowe helped to draw up, “re-establishes a footprint on Belfast’s main street and reconnects the station with the communities around it,” he says. The area behind the station used to be at the centre of a turf war between Protestants and Catholics, but is now available for redevelopment, allowing boulevards and commercial spaces to be constructed. The plan also improves the station itself, adding bus bays, platforms and facilities such as waiting areas and toilets. “It’s about improving the functionality of the station and its connectivity with the city, and exploiting the former yards for maximum commercial return. The station needs a flow that boosts economic activity. The easier you make it for people to get from A to B, the more likely they are to make that journey and generate economic activity,” says Lowe. It is vital, he adds, to create open, walkable spaces
around station developments. He cites the example of the new St Pancras as a scheme that has done this successfully.
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