Green light for £570m HS2 station

The green light has been given to the £570m Curzon Street HS2 station.

HS2 has been working with WSP and Grimshaw Architects on the design for Curzon Street and with Arup on the Interchange station in Solihull. Initial designs went on display in Autumn 2018 with more than 1,750 people providing feedback which has now been incorporated into the new designs.

In approving the scheme, Birmingham City Council’s planning committee said: “The elegant and (deceptively) simple form of the main station building clearly reads as a railway station and harks back to traditional station architecture, delivering this in a confident and contemporary way.”

Curzon Street station in Birmingham city centre will be the first brand new intercity terminus station built in Britain since the since the 19th century. Eventually, there will be nine trains per hour onto the high speed network in each direction from the station.

The new net zero carbon in operation station design will maximise the benefit of natural resources such as sunlight and water and have new public spaces surrounding it. The designs will also incorporate the existing historic Old Curzon Street building and link it to the new station’s eastern concourse at New Canal Street.

The designs also improve access to different modes of transport. The Midland Metro runs alongside and underneath the station while pedestrian routes lead to local bus services, Sprint rapid transit bus services and other train services. The design also provides space for more than 250 bicycles.