LIVERPOOL Central Station is set for a massive transformation as part of the £180m Central Village scheme to regenerate an empty quarter of the city centre.
The project will see land over the current Central Station, where the Victorian rail terminus once stood, turned into a new leisure destination complete with two new residential tower blocks.
Preparatory work has already started on the site and building work on its £70m first phase, including the 25 and 20-storey towers, will start in autumn.
Central Village’s principal designer Stephan Reinke, European managing director for Woods Bagot, says one key aspect of the scheme will be to open up Central Station with new escalators and glass canopies to let light stream into the underground complex.
Mr Reinke said the station was too small for its current passenger levels, and said he wanted to make it a brighter and more open building that was far more welcoming to passengers.
He added: “We've got one of the busiest transport nodes in Western Europe, and it's a space with such a low ceiling I can reach out and touch it. We want to drive sun and light in.”
Mr Reinke said negotiations are continuing with Network Rail on the station plans, and that because of the complexity of the project it will take longer than other aspects of Central Village.
He said: “Working on a main train station is a big deal, but it's got to happen. It's part of the plan.”
The two towers on the site have already been nicknamed Spencer and Kate after Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. They will include over 300 flats. At ground level, the development will include shops, bars and restaurants. there will also be a 16m-wide “water stair”, a landscaped water feature running the length of the site from the top of Bold Street to the rear of Central Station.
Central Village was originally slated to have one tall 38-floor tower, but Mr Reinke said it was redesigned after consultation with local authorities and heritage bodies to make it relate more to its Ropewalks and Mount Pleasant neighbours.
He said architects and developers were all happy with their modified scheme.
alistairhoughton
