Post by Kev on Apr 26, 2004 8:46:07 GMT -5
A MAJOR £75m plan to transform Liverpool's Lime Street train station has been revealed.
The station is to have a radical facelift including the creation of new front and side entrances, the resurfacing of all platforms and the revamping of Lime Street underground station.
The nine-year project aims to turn around the station which was recently described by the chairman of Merseytravel as a "disgraceful eyesore".
The first phase of the Lime Street Development Plan will cost £29m and is due to be completed by 2007 in time for the 800th birthday of the city.
The centrepiece of the development will be a new front entrance with a glass arch facing St George's Hall.
Key to the Lime Street Development Plan is the removal of the unsightly parade of shops on the station concourse.
Negotiations are continuing to buy up the shops in order to demolish them.
Developer English Partnerships is also in negotiation to buy and refurbish the concourse office tower which stands to one side of the station. Merseytravel is applying for an £18.2m government grant towards the cost of the first phase while English Partnerships will pay £8.9m and Network Rail, the body which maintains the station, will pay £2m.
Cllr Mark Dowd, chairman of Merseytravel, said: "We want to see Lime Street develop as a premier gateway into Liverpool in time for our year of Capital of Culture.The government have already helped Merseytravel with £6.3m towards Liverpool South Parkway and we have provided £200,000 for CCTV for Lime Street."
The first phase of the scheme will also see the construction of a new ticket and travel centre in the ground floor of the current Lime Street Chambers.
During the second phase of the development, planned for between 2007 and 2009, a new eastern entrance will be built facing Copperas Hill. New management offices will be built and the Merseyrail underground station will be refurbished.
The third phase of the plan, which will run from 2010 to 2013, will create an extension of the station on a site bounded by St Vincent's Way, Seymour Street and Copperas Hill.
The plan was last night welcomed by Jim Gill, chief executive of regeneration group Liverpool Vision.
He said: "Lime Street Station is a strategic gateway to the City Centre. The station and its immediate environment have a critical influence on visitors' perception of Liverpool."
Source..Liverpool Echo
The station is to have a radical facelift including the creation of new front and side entrances, the resurfacing of all platforms and the revamping of Lime Street underground station.
The nine-year project aims to turn around the station which was recently described by the chairman of Merseytravel as a "disgraceful eyesore".
The first phase of the Lime Street Development Plan will cost £29m and is due to be completed by 2007 in time for the 800th birthday of the city.
The centrepiece of the development will be a new front entrance with a glass arch facing St George's Hall.
Key to the Lime Street Development Plan is the removal of the unsightly parade of shops on the station concourse.
Negotiations are continuing to buy up the shops in order to demolish them.
Developer English Partnerships is also in negotiation to buy and refurbish the concourse office tower which stands to one side of the station. Merseytravel is applying for an £18.2m government grant towards the cost of the first phase while English Partnerships will pay £8.9m and Network Rail, the body which maintains the station, will pay £2m.
Cllr Mark Dowd, chairman of Merseytravel, said: "We want to see Lime Street develop as a premier gateway into Liverpool in time for our year of Capital of Culture.The government have already helped Merseytravel with £6.3m towards Liverpool South Parkway and we have provided £200,000 for CCTV for Lime Street."
The first phase of the scheme will also see the construction of a new ticket and travel centre in the ground floor of the current Lime Street Chambers.
During the second phase of the development, planned for between 2007 and 2009, a new eastern entrance will be built facing Copperas Hill. New management offices will be built and the Merseyrail underground station will be refurbished.
The third phase of the plan, which will run from 2010 to 2013, will create an extension of the station on a site bounded by St Vincent's Way, Seymour Street and Copperas Hill.
The plan was last night welcomed by Jim Gill, chief executive of regeneration group Liverpool Vision.
He said: "Lime Street Station is a strategic gateway to the City Centre. The station and its immediate environment have a critical influence on visitors' perception of Liverpool."
Source..Liverpool Echo
