PROJECT REPORT: TRANSPORT FACILITIES & PUBLIC REALM 31
The works also include an expansion of the shopping and leisure offered within the station, hoping to draw in users that are travelling to stay a little longer, or even invite those who are not travelling to utilise the facility – all considered in the rising capacity the station had to be fit for.
Rigorous standards As a Grade II listed building, Vafeiadi tells me the project had to be designed to “rigorous” standards in order to receive planning consent, ensuring that its materiality be sensitive to the historic site, while revitalising other aspects of the design where achievable. “All the materials we considered for use in the project were primarily focussed on their suitability within this historic context,” explains Vafeiadi. “We were absolutely clear that we wanted to keep the traditions of the and focus of the original station,” she continues, “Using materials that already feature across it where possible, and choosing those which complement them if not, always retaining the important aspects of the building.” Heritage style railings, for instance, were specified to match the existing railings on the platform edge, and to reduce the visual impact on the pedestrian routes out of the station a simple balustrade was specified – with the precedent again
ADF DECEMBER 2022
already being set for its use in other areas of the station.
Alongside these restorations and enhancements, Vafeiadi tells me that material specification was also harnessed to “visually separate and link different areas,” such as public and private, and inside and out. She explains that a “simple” palette was chosen here to ensure the entire project remained cohesive, users feeling as though they are in one place throughout the pedestrian routes from one side of the building to another.
High quality natural stone was also used in the hard landscaping elements around the station, with green “softening” forms with tree plantings around them. “With this simple, effective palette of materials and colours, we have achieved a sense of legibility, as well as reflecting the buildings that surround it,” says the architect.
A wider context Continuing on the site’s renowned context – being surrounded by a host of historic and well-known buildings, many of them graded – Vafeiadi tells that avoiding any negative impact on this context was a key focus for the stakeholders from the outset, with the three surrounding development areas previously mentioned all falling within the “urban core plate” for Newcastle, working
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“We were absolutely clear that we wanted to keep the traditions of the station”
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