The Future of Euston

In 2007 Network Rail announced that in partnership with British Land it was to redevelop the entire Euston station complex. The Euston Arch Trust believes that the redevelopment should include the rebuilding of the Euston Arch. Below you will find details of the proposal from the Trust and the current plans from Network Rail and others.

The 1996 proposal was drawn up by the Euston Arch Trust’s professional adviser the internationally renowned structural engineers Alan Baxter & Associates and architect Ptolemy Dean. They proposed the reconstruction of the arch between the two 1870s lodges on the Euston Road. Baxter and Associates assure us that reconstruction raises no special technological problems and are confident that, from a structural point of view, the site between the two lodegs is a suitable location for the arch. Further details are below.

At the time the Trust calculated that rebuilding the arch – using new stones and modern structural technology – would cost around £3.5 million, with a significant increase in costs in proportion to the number of old stones salvaged from beneath the Prescott Channel and repaired.

If a large number of old stones were used then the estimated cost was around £5 million.

Our current estimate for rebuilding is £10 million (which includes a mix of new and old stones), but we are currently reviewing the 1996 proposal.

Our proposals will adapt to the plans put forward by Network Rail and British Land. As the plans progress we look forward to working with the relevant stakeholders such as Network Rail, British Land, Camden Council, Sydney and London Properties, Transport for London, the Mayor of London and English Heritage.

Further Details:

In 2007 Network Rail announced that it was looking to redevelop Euston Station. The sheer size of the complex, the untapped retail, housing and office space available and the blight it inflicts on the local area make it a prime candidate for redevelopment. In total it is estimated the redevelopment will open up around 2.5 million sq ft of mixed-use development.

Network Rail considered several proposals. All aimed to make fuller use of the space the station occupies, to better integrate it with the local area and provide the station with a more prominent frontage, the current station being hidden from the Euston Road by the 1970s office blocks built outside the main concourse area.

On 5 April 2007, British Land announced they had won the tender to demolish the existing 40 year old building and rebuild the terminal, spending some £250m of their overall redevelopment budget of £1bn for the area. As a result the number of platforms will increase from 18 to 21. There has also been some discussion that the newly redeveloped station may form the terminus for any new high speed railway built to connect London with the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland.

It is expected that a planning application will be submitted around 2009, with work commencing towards the end of 2012. The work would take at least four years to complete. Some conceptual designs of what a new station could look like were released to the public and can be seen below.

Further details:

The rebuilding of the Euston arch and redevelopment of Euston station would also encompass redevelopment of the large office buildings on the northern side of Euston Square and just outside the entrance to Euston station. Sydney and London Properties, the owner of these buildings, have put forward a proposal to replace the existing buildings with a new development encompassing 250,000 square feet of shops and 2,500,000 sq ft of office and homes. The proposals outlines a series of aims from designing out crime through to providing the station with a more prominent front on the Euston Road. Pictures of their proposal can be seen below. Sydney and London Properties have also placed great emphasis on community engagement in the development. Managing director, Richard Anning told the Camden Journal, 'as we have seen at King's Cross and St Pancras, gone are the days when major transport hubs are merely a structure where people alight and depart'.

Further details can be found at: