Work starts on new entrance to New Street Station
NETWORK Rail has started work to construct a brand new entrance to Birmingham New Street station. The work, part of the facility’s £600m redevelopment, will provide better links between the city’s business district and the rail hub.
The new north-west corner entrance will allow people walking from Victoria Square, New Street and Colmore Row to access the redeveloped station direct from Stephenson Street. The new entrance will be completed at the end of 2012 when the first half of the new station concourse will open to passengers.
To allow construction work to progress safely, Network Rail has agreed with Birmingham City Council for a road closure of Navigation Street on weekdays (Monday to Friday) with the road reopening at weekends.
Chris Montgomery, project director for Network Rail said: “The north west side of New Street station will change beyond recognition over the next 18 months as we build the new entrance and continue work to clad the station in its stainless steel façade. With easy access to the city centre, we anticipate the north-west entrance will become one of the most popular ways to access the station.
“The road closures are essential to allow us to complete this work safely and we will continue to work with Birmingham City Council and our other partners to minimise disruption while we build.”
Behind the hoardings, large parts of the old concrete clad station building will be demolished to allow construction of the steelwork frame which will form the new station entrance. Next door on Stephenson Street, preparatory work is already underway to install the first section of stainless steel façade.
Once the new entrance and concourse is open, work will switch to redeveloping the existing station, with the project set to complete in 2015.
New Street station and the Pallasades Shopping Centre will remain open throughout the construction work. The first section of stainless steel cladding is likely to be installed above Stephenson Street in early 2012. The façade will then be installed in an anti-clockwise direction around the station building, with the west side being clad next, followed by the south and finally the east side opposite the Bullring which will be the last section to be clad in 2015.
The redevelopment of Birmingham New Street will double passenger capacity, improve access down to the platforms and improve pedestrian links across the city.
The project includes a concourse that is three-and-a-half times bigger than at present and enclosed by a giant, light-filled atrium. In addition, there will be more accessible, brighter and clearer platforms, serviced by over 40 new escalators and over 15 new public lifts.
There will also be a stunning new station façade, with better links to and through the station for pedestrians, with eight new entrances.
The project timeline will see work start on the new £250m John Lewis department store in spring next year, with the first phase of the station redevelopment complete around Christmas 2012. The department store is set to open in September 2014, with the whole project complete in 2015.
The project is supported by Network Rail, Birmingham City Council, Centro, Advantage West Midlands and the Department for Transport.
Network Rail is delivering the project alongside its partner, Mace.
