The Former Great Eastern Hotel – now the Andaz London Liverpool Street – as seen from the corner of Liverpool Street and Bishopsgate as proposed in plans by Network Rail and Acme . Visualisation: Network Rail and Acme

We have prepared this guide to help anyone who wishes to write an objection to the plans to partially demolish and inappropriately redevelop Liverpool Street Station.

How do I object to Network Rail and Acme’s plans for Liverpool Street Station?

You must object in writing; either online or by emailing a letter. You must include in the opening line of your objection that “I Object….”, and if submitting your objection online on the City of London Corporation’s planning portal you must also click the correct button that indicates you ‘Object.’

Where do I find the planning application for Liverpool Street station?

Direct link to planning application and to object online here.

Or search for the planning application by its reference number: 25/00494/FULEIA

We suggest the following opening line:

“I object to this application, which would cause substantial harm to the significance of nationally important heritage assets. More specifically, I raise objections to:” (and add some of the key issues listed below)

What are the key issues to cover in my objection?

• The substantial harm to the Grade II-listed station through the demolition of the roof structure of the existing station concourse and its replacement with a new structure. which would also compromise the setting of the surviving C19 train shed.
• The insertion of extensive amounts of new retail units within the C19 train sheds, including the construction of two elevated retail galleries, causing a high level of harm to the special interest and significance of the Grade II-listed heritage asset.
• The impact to the setting of surrounding listed heritage assets. In particular, harm to the significance of the Grade II*-listed hotel – the last continually functioning C19 hotel in the City – through the construction of a 20-storey tower over the station concourse.
• The substantial harm the scheme would cause to the Bishopsgate Conservation Area, by the imposition of a tall building in an area characterised by low- and medium-scale buildings. This is contrary to the 2015 City Plan, which requires the refusal of planning permission for tall buildings in inappropriate areas, such as in Conservation Areas and the St. Paul’s Cathedral Heights area.
• In addition, the scheme would impact on the setting of numerous designated and undesignated heritage assets in the City and beyond, such as many of the Grade I-listed Christopher Wren City churches, and nearby St Botolph’s church.
• Make sure to reference the National Planning Policy Framework in your objection, otherwise your objection may be dismissed:
  Paragraph NPPF 213 states: “Substantial harm to or loss of: a) grade II listed buildings, or grade II registered parks or gardens, should be exceptional.”

Who do I address my objection to?

Chair of the Planning & Transport Committee: Mr Tom Sleigh

Or you can object by email sending it to: PLNComments@cityoflondon.gov.uk and tom.sleigh@cityoflondon.gov.uk

cc:

Shravan.joshi@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Shravan.Tana.Adkin@cityoflondon.gov.uk; joshi@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Samapti.Bagchi@cityoflondon.gov.uk; matthew.bell@cityoflondon.gov.uk; emily.benn@cityoflondon.gov.uk; john.edwards@cityoflondon.gov.uk; anthony.fitzpatrick@cityoflondon.gov.uk; marianne.fredericks@cityoflondon.gov.uk; alison.gowman@cityoflondon.gov.uk; prem.goyal@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Madush.Gupta@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Josephine.Hayes@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Jaspreet.Hodgson@cityoflondon.gov.uk; amy.horscroft@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Philip.Kelvin@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Elizabeth.King@cityoflondon.gov.uk; edward.lord@cityoflondon.gov.uk; antony.manchester@cityoflondon.gov.uk; alastair.moss@cityoflondon.gov.uk; deborah.oliver@cityoflondon.gov.uk; henry.pollard@cityoflondon.gov.uk; simon.pryke@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Nighat.Qureishi@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Gaby.Robertshaw2@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Hugh.Selka@cityoflondon.gov.uk; alethea.silk@cityoflondon.gov.uk; naresh.sonpar@cityoflondon.gov.uk; william.upton@cityoflondon.gov.uk; Matthew.Waters@cityoflondon.gov.uk; jacqui.webster@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Deadline to submit your objection: ASAP – ideally by 1st February 2026.

You can donate to support the campaign on Justgiving here.

Thank you for your support to Save Liverpool Station. Follow the campaign on the Society’s social media or visit our website news section.

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Network Rail and Acme plans showing Liverpool Street entrance. Visualisation: Acme and Network Rail.

The City of London Corporation Planning Committee will soon formally consider Network Rail and Acme’s destructive plans for Liverpool Street Station, which induced 2147 resounding objections from members of the public, heritage and civic organisations.

Architects John McAslan + Partners put forward an alternative plan for Liverpool Street Station last year, which demonstrated what many concerned observers had considered inevitable: that Network Rail’s plan for a hulking office block built in and on top of the historic station, requiring extensive demolition and loss of historic fabric, was unnecessary and completely unjustified.

Last year we helped to highlight the shocking environmental inadequacies of the scheme, one element of which was the remarkable fact that the entire glazed envelope of the proposed new office block would require total replacement within thirty years.

In addition, Network Rail’s own assessment is that the scheme is financially unviable.

The Vic Soc’s Director and our President Griff Rhys Jones also raised serious concerns about the tactics employed by a communications agency working for Network Rail during public consultations in 2025.

The case has been put – the City of London Corporation Planning Committee needs to resoundingly refuse Network Rail’s current planning application.

The fundraiser to Save Liverpool Street Station remains open. Griff Rhys Jones, President of the LISSCA Campaign and the Victorian Society, and the LISSCA Committee thank everyone for their continued support.

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Graphic: Marta Naumova

On 18th January 1966 Nikolaus Pevsner lectured to an audience of 500 on the value of Victorian Architecture in the Great Hall of Manchester Town Hall, providing the catalyst for the formation of the Manchester Group of the Victorian Society. The Group will mark its 60th Anniversary on 24th January at the newly-restored Rochdale Town Hall.

Members, staff and supporters will enjoy a meal and talks from specialists involved in the Town Hall restoration, and guided tours of the building, re-landscaped square and the recently completed Broadfield Slopes.

The Manchester Group of the Victorian Society is one of the largest and most active of the charity and amenity society’s seven regional groups. It was the Society’s second regional group to be founded. Since 1966 the Group has provided commentary and advice through the Heritage Buildings Panel of Manchester Council on planning applications across all of Greater Manchester as well as further into Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness and the High Peak. Members of the Manchester Group also sit on the Society’s Northern Buildings Committee where their expertise and invaluable knowledge play a part in the Society’s responses to key planning applications across the North of England and Wales. Our Manchester Group undertook local casework and mounted their own vigorous and people-led campaigns – highlights being the ‘Save our City’ campaign, the fight to save the Mechanics Institute, which was listed and retained, the ‘Save Albert’ campaign, the work to save the National Westminster Bank (originally Parr’s Bank) on Spring Gardens from demolition, the work to create the Castlefield Conservation Area, a three year campaign to save Liverpool Road Station, also campaigns for the Central Station and the Pankhurst Centre. There was the legendary spontaneous direct action to save the Black Manchester Poplar trees in what is now the St John’s Conservation area. It is in large part thanks to the Manchester Group of the Victorian Society that the city’s historic core has substantially survived.

Ever since their foundation, the Society’s regional groups have given the charity its distinctive strength and local reach, and membership of them has grown steadily through the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Like many third sector organisations, the Society experienced a decline in membership and volunteering during the Covid period. However, the Manchester Group is now looking forward with renewed energy, keen to welcome new members who wish to support its work and take part in an active programme of talks, walks and tours, including The Lunch Hour popular series of lunchtime walks and talks around Manchester.

The Society is also grateful for a generous award from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is helping to secure a sustainable future for the charity. This significant support will enable the Society to strengthen its capacity over the next two years by employing additional staff to support its vital work, grow membership, and develop new partnerships and funding opportunities – ensuring that more of our Victorian and Edwardian heritage can be protected for generations to come.

You can read more about the history of the Victorian Society here.

Here are two buildings the Manchester Group campaigned to save:

The Mechanics Institute Manchester Photo: Patricia Smith

Nat West Bank (formerly Parr’s Bank). Photo: Patricia Smith

Here are some buildings that the Manchester Group and its members successfully secured formal designation and statutory protection for. These buildings are all listed by Historic England.

Charter Street Mission (formerly Charter Street Ragged School and Working Girls’ Home). Photo: Mark Watson

58 Richmond Street, Manchester. Photo: Patricia Smith

Cavendish Road School, Manchester. Photo: Patricia Smith

57 Back Piccadilly, Manchester. Photo: Patricia Smith

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Support from other amenity societies and heritage organisations has already shown how these consultees fit into the bigger planning ‘ecosystem.’ Support the future of the Gardens Trust as an integral consultee by responding to the consultation on this link by 13th January 2026.

The Rookery Garden Streatham Common

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St Barnabas, Mayland Essex. Photo: James Bettley.

The Victorian Society is delighted to announce that it has successfully secured formal designation and statutory protection for the Church of St Barnabas, a remarkably intact small rural church in Essex, built in 1867. The church has now been added to the National Heritage List for England at Grade II.

St Barnabas is exceptional for the near-complete survival of its original Victorian furnishings, including pew benches, font, pulpit and choir stalls. Modest in scale yet carefully designed and beautifully crafted, these fittings are of notably high quality and perfectly suited to their setting. Together they form a harmonious and characterful interior that powerfully evokes the spirit of a rural church of the 1860s.

Pulpit and stained glass by Powell & Sons. Photo: James Bettley.

The newly listed status recognises not only the architectural and historic interest of St Barnabas itself, but also the rare survival of its coherent and largely untouched interior. The designation ensures that this charming and evocative church will now be protected for future generations to enjoy.

Church of Saint Barnabas seen 1910-1920. Photo: Footsteps Photographs on Flickr

Mayland is an ancient parish on the Dengie peninsula of Essex. It is 8.5 miles S.E. of Maldon. White’s 1848 Directory of Essex described it as “a parish of scattered houses” with 2,030 acres of land and its population at the 1871 census was 246. Its previous parish church had dated from the 13th century and was described as having been in a ruinous, dangerous state for some time before the present church was built on a site some 300 yards to the south in 1867. The old building was then allowed to decay further and was demolished in 1877.

The setting of the new church is very striking. It is high on the ridge line with vistas to the north viewing practically all of the Blackwater. Maldon can be seen in the distance, and on a fine day Stansgate Abbey, the country home of the late Tony Benn MP, can be seen along with Bradwell nuclear power station.

St Barnabas Mayland Essex Photo Simon Knott Essex churches

The church was designed by Philip Charles Hardwick (1822-1892), a distinguished architect from one of Britain’s most notable architectural dynasties. His father, Philip Hardwick, his paternal grandfather, Thomas Hardwick, his maternal grandfather, John Shaw senior, and his uncle, John Shaw junior, were all architects of standing. Trained initially by his father and later by Edward Blore, P. C. Hardwick went on to become a major figure in Victorian architecture, with a busy practice based in the City of London. He designed a number of important bank buildings and served as architect to the Bank of England. Among his most celebrated works were the Great Hall of Euston Station – tragically demolished in 1962 – the Great Western Hotel at Paddington, Charterhouse School, and new wings at Greenwich Hospital. P. C. Hardwick was also the architect of Aldermaston Court, which was on our Top Ten Endangered Buildings list in 2025.

Hardwick’s design for this simple building is well-proportioned and handsome. The Chelmsford Chronicle said, “the object kept in view in the design has been to combine the simplicity of a rural church with a chaste and ecclesiastical effect”. The style is Early English, the building stone is Kentish rag and the church has a nave, the chancel is separately roofed, there is a vestry and substantial gabled porch.

Choir stalls looking towards the altar at St Barnabas Mayland Essex. Photo James Bettley

The Governors of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, which owned the manor of Mayland, supported the proposals for a new church, gave the land for both the church and churchyard, and contributed half the cost of the building – £750 out of an estimated £1,500. The remainder was raised by subscriptions and grants, and the account of the church’s opening in The Chelmsford Chronicle lists donations ranging from two guineas to £50, the latter contributed by each of the churchwardens. The Governors also paid for the chancel paving. Their treasurer, William Foster White, laid the foundation stone on 3 July 1866, and their almoner, Arthur Powell, donated a stained glass window – the one in the north wall showing St Bartholomew. He was related to members of the family who, as Powell and Sons, provided the stained glass that filled almost all the church’s windows at the outset. Powell and Sons were one of the major firms of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. St Barnabas is exceptional for its size in that not only do all its windows contain stained glass, but that glass was supplied by such a notable firm as part of the original construction. James Bettley notes in The Buildings of England: Essex that the stained glass is “the best feature of the church, unexpected in such an out-of-the-way place. Apart from the war memorial window by Jones and Willis, 1920, all [is] by Powell and Sons, and the variety demonstrates just how much freedom their individual designers had. Most of it [is] by Henry Holiday.”

Stained glass by Powell & Sons at St Barnabas Mayland Essex. Photo: James Bettley.

The church was opened in June 1867 and was consecrated by the Bishop of Rochester, followed by a celebratory lunch in a nearby barn. Over 150 years later the building survives with very little alteration.

Thanks to the Minister and to Historic England for accepting the listing request for this building.

St Barnabas’s services and events can be viewed here.

Stained glass by Powell & Sons. Photo: James Bettley.

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Photo and graphic: Marta Naumova

The Victorian Society’s Hybrid Spring Lecture Series: 28^th January – 18 March 2026

Join us from the 28 January for our next lecture series, excitingly our first in-person series for a number of years. The lectures will take place at NYU London, 265 Strand, London and will be live-streamed and will also be available as recordings. The subject for Spring 2026 is the Arts and Crafts Movement. Our speakers will be drawing on a large amount of new research, much of which is highlighting the often-neglected role played by women in a Movement that remains of direct relevance and a source of inspiration to architects, artists and designers today.

Subjects include: Philip Webb, Gertrude Jekyll, Edwin Lutyens, Phoebe Anna Traquair, Charles Rennie Mackintosh & Margaret Macdonald, May Morris and Christopher Whall.

Tickets can be purchased for single lectures or for the entire series.

Special Offer: Get all 7 lectures for the price of 6 – both online and in person.

Philip Webb by Max Donnelly

Wed 28 January, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Max Donnelly, Curator of Furniture 1800–1915 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, will discuss Webb’s works as a designer of domestic interiors, drawing on the wealth of new biographical information about the architect in his collected letters, published by John Aplin in 2016, and on the research he has carried out for a chapter on Webb’s designs for interior decoration in the catalogue for an exhibition on Webb to be held at the Bard Graduate Center, New York.

Gertrude Jekyll: ‘Artist Gardener Craftswoman’ by Dr Caroline Ikin

Wed 4 February, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

As the home of celebrated gardener Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), Munstead Wood holds deep significance as the place where her ideal of the ‘artist-gardener’ achieved complete expression. A trained artist, Jekyll also applied her creativity to the decorative arts, design and collecting, and was a skilled craftswoman. Recent research on the interiors and furnishing of Munstead Wood, now in the care of the National Trust, offers insight into the collaboration between Jekyll and her architect Edwin Lutyens to create a domestic space shaped around arts and crafts ideals. Dr Caroline Ikin is Curator at the National Trust for Munstead Wood. She has previously worked in museums and for the Gardens Trust and her research interest lies broadly in nineteenth century art, architecture and gardens.

From Surrey to New Delhi: Lutyens and the Arts & Crafts Movement by Clive Aslet

Wed 11 February, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Growing up in the Surrey village of Thursley, Sir Edwin Lutyens didn’t know it, but he was to follow in the footsteps of greats like John Ruskin, William Morris and Philip Webb in the tradition of British pride in craftsmanship that was to define the Arts and Crafts movement at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Home educated and sickly, a chance meeting with Gertrude Jekyll would turn this young architect into THE architect of the rich elite of Surrey, London and beyond. Their partnership and his talent for charming his clients would see Lutyens move in ever greater circles and culminated in large scale projects of New Delhi and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral – outwardly classical, elements of these monoliths can be traced back to designs found at Folly Farm, Marsh Court and Castle Drogo. Clive Aslet is an award-winning writer and Visiting Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. Clive has published more than thirty books on architecture and British culture. His most recent publications include Sir Edwin Lutyens: Britain’s Greatest Architect? (2024). For many years Clive was Editor of the magazine Country Life.

Phoebe Anna Traquair by Dr Elizabeth Cumming

Wed 25 February, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

‘A woman the size of a fly’: Louis Davis’s 1902 comment to his friend Robert Lorimer gives no idea of the sheer ambition and many achievements of Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852–1936). Born and educated in Ireland, she settled with her Scottish husband to Edinburgh, where she became involved in the city’s social art movement, painting murals in tiny and vast buildings and teaching design from the 1880s. She produced some of Britain’s most remarkable embroideries and illuminated manuscripts, packed with colour and imagination. Our speaker, Dr Elizabeth Cumming, has documented Traquair’s life and art for nearly half a century, including most recently Phoebe Anna Traquair for the National Galleries of Scotland in 2022.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald by Robyne Calvert

Wed 4 March, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

For all his fame, more myths cling to Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) and his significance as a designer than to almost any other architect of the Arts and Crafts movement. Many centre on his marriage in 1900 to the artist Margaret Macdonald (1864–1933), with whom he was then collaborating on the design of the Ladies Luncheon Room at Miss Cranston’s Tearooms at Ingram Street, Glasgow. ‘You are half if not three quarters in all my architectural work’, wrote Mackintosh to his wife, but how true was that? Their partnership will be analysed by Robyne Calvert, the author of The Mack: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of Art, published by Yale University Press in 2024.

May Morris and the Art of Embroidery by Dr Lynn Hulse

Wed 11 March, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

May Morris described design as ‘the very soul and essence of beautiful embroidery’ and ranked it chief among the four elements that make a piece of needlework truly ‘artistic’. Drawing on her substantial corpus of designs in the Ashmolean Museum, Lynn Hulse will explore May’s approach to translating a sketched idea into a finished piece of embroidery, contextualising her work within the artistic developments of needle-art that were taking place in the years leading up to and during her lifetime. Dr Lynn Hulse is a textile scholar and practitioner, specialising in embroidered furnishings of the Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts movements. She is the author of several publications on decorative needlework and editor of May Morris: Art & Life (2017). Her most recent book May Morris Designs was published by the Ashmolean Museum in August 2025.

Christopher Whall by Peter Cormack

Wed 18 March, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

When windows designed by Christopher Whall (1849–1924) were shown at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in London in 1888 they were immediately recognised as a break-through. Whall changed for ever the direction of the finest stained glass in Britain, thanks to his mastery of not only design but also every stage of its manufacture to create windows in which sumptuous colours were combined with thickly textured ‘slab’ glasses and bold leading patterns. Whall’s achievement will be discussed by Peter Cormack, a noted scholar of post-medieval British and American stained glass, William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, whose classic study Arts & Crafts Stained Glass, published by Yale University Press in 2015 was the first book to do Whall and his legacy full justice.

In-person at NYU London, 265 Strand, London WC2R 1BH. (All tickets must be booked in advance).

Time: Doors open at 6:15 pm and the lecture starts at 6:30 pm.

Refreshments will be available after the lecture (not included in the ticket prices).

Tube: Charing Cross, Waterloo or Temple.

Prices: In-person tickets per lecture: £11 for members/ £15 for non-members. Online tickets per lecture : £6 for members/ £8 for non-members. The complete series of 7 lectures for 6: in-person tickets: £66 for members/£90 for non-members or Online tickets: £36 for members/ £48 for non-members.

Members of the Young Victorians get 50% off tickets for this series. 

Book here to attend In-person or Online. 

All our events can be found here.

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Trainshed interior at Liverpool Street Station visualisation by John McAslan + Partners

Innovative design by leading UK architect shows desired station improvements could be achieved with minimal passenger disruption

Heritage groups welcome fresh thinking at landmark site – and call for pause to allow alternative approaches to be considered

A fresh new approach to the upgrading of Liverpool Street Station is unveiled today.

The concept proposal has been designed by John McAslan + Partners (JMP), the architects behind the celebrated transformation of King’s Cross Station, and Expedition, engineers of the 2012 Olympic Velodrome.

Their vision shows that, with an innovative and sympathetic design approach, the station enhancements and accessibility upgrades everyone wants at Liverpool Street could be achieved without years of passenger disruption, which building a tower through the concourse would entail.

The JMP concept has been welcomed by Sir Tim Smit, founder of the pioneering Eden Project, and by heritage and sustainability experts as a helpful contribution to a debate that has so far been dominated by one idea: large-scale demolition and a 20-storey tower.

They are now urging Network Rail to pause the current planning process while it considers this alternative approach – and any other credible alternatives which seek to protect and enhance Liverpool Street Station.

A controversial planning application by Network Rail to build a 20-storey tower over the station is due to be considered by the City of London planning committee in early 2026. It has met with significant opposition from commuters and conservation groups since it was submitted in April. This scheme would cost in excess of £1.2bn and is “not technically viable” according to Network Rail’s own advisors.

By contrast, the JMP vision is considered to be viable and deliverable and aims to match the accessibility and capacity upgrades, including escalators, lifts, waiting areas, toilets and a cycle hub. This is possible because JMP’s office and retail space erected above the existing station roof and accessed from 50 Liverpool Street – retained in JMP’s proposal – would be much quicker to build, avoiding the disruption of demolishing the roof or the need to drive columns through the concourse to support a new office block above.

With an elegant, low-profile vaulted design that echoes both classic railway architecture and the 1990 SOM building across Exchange Square, JMP and its engineering partner Expedition propose inserting a vaulted office building with a public garden over the northern end of the platforms. The low-carbon design, wrapped in a high-quality sustainable façade, would hang nine floors of cross-laminated timber from a lightweight steel frame, avoiding the need for internal columns or demolition of the platform roofs. It would remove the unsightly retail mezzanine, declutter the concourse to ease passenger movement and open up heroic views along the trainshed from its publicly accessible landscaped walkway.

The vision seeks to channel the same spirit of innovation and ambition that is being celebrated this year, the 200^th anniversary of the railways.

Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, who is advising on McAslan’s landscape and biodiversity strategy, said JMP’s alternative vision “offers an exhilarating reimagining of Edward Wilson’s breathtaking trainshed, a cathedral-like masterpiece; a station that has grown over the years to become the busiest in Britain and one of the busiest in Europe.”

Benefits of the JMP vision 

• Provides close to 700,000sq ft of offices, including concourse retail and the restoration and renewal of the elegant 50 Liverpool Street building.
• Early estimates are about half the cost of the £1.2bn current scheme, based on current prices
• Minimises disruption to passengers during construction, particularly around the critical concourse and entrance areas
• Future-proofs the station to meet passenger growth forecasts and deliver the station upgrades Network Rail is trying to achieve
• Restores and upgrades the historic Grade II listed station and trainshed
• Involves almost no demolition, avoiding the need to remove the existing roof or construct a deep transfer slab above the concourse, which would impact daylight and the setting of the Grade II* Andaz (Great Eastern) Hotel
• Adopts a low-carbon approach from the outset. With innovative engineering (such as the highly efficient arched tension structure) and robust materials (with twice the typical design life), the offices would be the antithesis of an off-the-peg glass curtain-wall office building reliant on last-century thinking
• CO2 emissions are further reduced by reusing existing fabric such as 50 Liverpool Street, keeping construction to a minimum and avoiding demolition and carbon-intensive piling, columns and transfer structure
• Designed to align with the scale and character of surrounding buildings
• Provides new landscaped public walkways along the trainshed between Exchange Square and the station concourse
• Designed to be reversible, should requirements change at a later date

John McAslan, founder of John McAslan + Partners (JMP), said: “At Liverpool Street Station we seek to embrace the past, present and future in a way that celebrates transport architecture by retaining and protecting the station’s historic fabric and also future-proofs it – an approach we adopted at King’s Cross Station.

“Importantly, our emerging ideas for Liverpool Street Station are proportionate in scale to the existing structure and aligned with the level of additional development required to finance the station’s upgrade.

“Our approach is phasable and will ensure Liverpool Street Station remains operational with minimal disruption during its construction period. Thanks to our team’s ecologically led fabric-first design approach which embeds our practice ethos of ‘enoughness’, we do no more than is needed to deliver a successful outcome for the station and its passengers.”

Comments from Heritage groups

James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society, said: “This proposal demonstrates that there are alternative approaches to delivering the discrete upgrades that Liverpool Street Station requires. We welcome the long overdue opening up of the debate instigated by John McAslan’s alternative proposal.”

Henrietta Billings, director of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, said: “This fresh and exciting vision is a valuable contribution to the debate about what’s possible at this important site. It shows that there are alternative approaches to upgrading this celebrated public building in more sympathetic and imaginative ways that won’t cause years of disruption to commuters.”

Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society, said: “We are delighted that John McAslan’s concept explores an alternative strategy. It would add a further layer of sensitive adaption to the site, keeping all the significant C20th parts which make a major contribution to the history of the station and avoiding building over the main concourse. We hope it will open up the debate about how we fund major infrastructure projects, and how we balance heritage and financial interests. Fresh thinking at this point is very much needed.”

Comments from JMP’s project team

Chris Wise, senior director at Expedition Engineering and the engineer behind the JMP concept, said: “Our engineering would bridge the main Victorian trainshed without touching it, efficiently supporting the clear span of 90m with a series of tied parabolic arches, rather than the heavy transfer trusses often used for air rights projects. Inside the new building, instead of heavy columns, our floors are hung from the arches. All is carried on a series of tall piloti columns, designed at a civic scale to land away from the twin roofs of the Victorian station structure.”

Simon Sturgis, managing partner of Targeting Zero and an expert in low-carbon construction, said: “The McAslan proposal has the potential to be an exemplary low-carbon office building, and a pointer to the future for the City of London. The arched tension structure is highly efficient in terms of material use and is also in the spirit of Victorian innovation. The past informing the future!”

Dan James, development director of the Eden Project, said: “This project represents a vision where cultural heritage and ecological regeneration meet. By connecting a historic gateway to the capital with living systems that support wildlife and human connection, we can help set a precedent for rail hubs as vibrant, nature-connected civic spaces. Eden looks forward to contributing to this transformative and inspiring venture.”

Julian Maynard, managing director of Maynard Design consultancy, said: “The opportunity to reimagine the customer experience of travelling through Liverpool Street Station from the public realm through to the platform requires intuitive wayfinding. The vision of retaining the existing fabric of this historical station and opening up views from the street and providing generous circulation spaces, free of clutter, will provide a more seamless journey for the passenger.”

Will Durden, director at Momentum Transport Consultancy, said: “The JMP proposal represents a commuter-focused alternative which could provide the station with the capacity and step-free access required while limiting passenger disruption by reducing new construction. Alongside major carbon savings, avoiding new structure could create a more open, less cluttered concourse, making better use of existing space.”

John McAslan + Partners’ alternative vision for Liverpool Street Station. Aerial visualisation.

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St Martin’s Church, Brampton, Cumbria. Photo: The Victorian Society

St Martin’s is the only church designed by the great architect, Philip Webb. Webb is best known as a progenitor of the Arts and Crafts Movement and designer of country houses, but St Martin’s shows his characteristic ingenuity, creating a church quite unlike others of the period. It is listed at Grade I.

This uniqueness causes some problems, especially with access which is via a long flight of steps. The Society were consulted on proposals to address this via a combination of ramps and platform lift at the base of the tower, while the Society accepted the necessity of providing access, the Society could not accept that this was the most suitable solution. The Society objected to the proposal in the Diocese of Carlisle Consistory Court, maintaining that the proposal would seriously harm the building and that less harmful options had not been fully explored. The Chancellor agreed with our concerns and refused permission. The Society recognise this is difficult for the parish, but we hope it will allow a more sensitive proposal to be developed.

St Martin’s Church, Brampton, Cumbria Photo: The Victorian Society 

Notable features in St Martin’s

The church has an altar panel by Byam Shaw and altar carpet to a Morris design. The stained glass is by Morris & Co, mostly to Edward Burne-Jones’s designs. The east window has 15 subjects as a memorial to Charles Howard from 1880 with angels, saints, the Good Shepherd and pelican, mostly with totally original designs, whilst the side windows are re-used designs.

Stained glass by Morris & Co, mostly to Edward Burne-Jones designs. Photo: The Victorian Society

Brampton stained glass by Morris & Co, mostly to Edward Burne-Jones designs. Photo: The Victorian Society

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Alton Abbey – aerial shot. Photo: Carter Jonas.

Our Churches and Senior Conservation Adviser, Connor McNeill wrote in support of the listing of this unique set of buildings for a male Anglican religious community in Hampshire. Although many Anglican conventual buildings are included on the statutory list – often designed by highly significant and well-known architects – comparatively few were built for male communities. Alton Abbey not only housed a community of monks, but gave homes to destitute and retired men from the maritime world on the south coast. The Abbey represents one of the very few rural examples of a substantially intact Nineteenth and early Twentieth century purpose built monasteries in England – there are others in Wales – but this was purposefully built in a countryside setting which lends the buildings a romanticism and makes the most of the topography of the site. With the drastic decline and closure of many male Anglican religious communities Alton Abbey has an increased significance in communicating a fast-disappearing aspect of English religious life.

Alton Abbey church. Photo: Carter Jonas.

The church, gatehouse and chapel date from the Victorian Society’s area of interest. The abbey church and its monastic buildings evolved between the 1890s and the 1930s designed by two notable church architects, John Cyril Hawes and Sir Charles Nicholson. The Abbey church and other buildings are some of the few surviving English works by Hawes, who became best known for his Roman Catholic churches in Australia. The abbey church is built of flint dug up from the abbey’s own land and its design reflects that of Cistercian Gothic examples.

The Society thanks the Minister and Historic England for this listing at Grade II.

Alton Abbey exterior of church. Photo Carter Jonas.

Alton Abbey gatehouse. Photo: Carter Jonas.

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Compton War Memorial with its lamp. Designed by Mary Watts. Photo Marie Clements, November 2025

The carved inscription on the monument reads:

‘In honoured memory of the men of Compton who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1918.

“Through the ages one clear flame of sacrifice has burned, and by its light men see god.”‘

This elegant, unique, Grade II war memorial in an Arts and Crafts style was designed by Mary Watts, and is an important feature of the thriving historic – and current – artists’ village of Compton, Surrey. Mary and her celebrated husband, artist G. F. Watts, settled here in the Surrey Hills, and as was the case with all things aesthetic, Mary played a key role in the conception and execution of this Grey York Stone village war memorial – with its lamp. The Compton War Memorial was worked by A. and G. Avery from nearby Farncombe, at Mary’s home, Limnerslease, under her supervision. The stone shaft is surmounted by a terracotta lantern made by the Compton Pottery that Mary founded, which was staffed by village people. The lamp is lit at night.

Unveiled and blessed on an afternoon in April 1922, the Compton village war memorial is dedicated to those who died in World War I – on land and at sea – mostly in France, one in Mesopotamia, and at the Battle of Jutland. A number of the Compton servicemen from WWI have no known grave. Compton people who died in WWII are remembered on the newer plaque on the wall of the stone enclosure around the memorial.

Dedication of the Compton war memorial in April 1922. Photo: ‘Compton War Memorial’ www.compton-surrey.co.uk/compton-war-memorial

The Compton village website has a page dedicated to its war memorial. An excellent booklet can be downloaded which poignantly documents the making of the memorial, its history and the lives of those who were lost: https://www.compton-surrey.co.uk/compton-war-memorial

The ancient church of St Nicholas in Compton is marking Remembrance Sunday & Eucharist on 9th November 2025 from 10:15 – 12:00 hrs. The war memorial on The Street is at the beginning of the path to the church.

Stained glass in memory of Harold Cliff Hodges. Born 1918, killed in action in Italy on 16th January 1944. St Nicholas Church Compton. Photo Marie Clements.

Read the Historic England list entry for the memorial here.

The first talk, by Lynne Walker FRIBA, in our recent online Lecture Series on Victorian and Edwardian Women in Architecture deals in part with Mary Watts‘ work, and can be accessed here as a recording. To visit Watts Gallery and Artists’s Village, including Mary and G.F. Watts house Limnerslease read more.

Designer of the Compton War Memorial, Mary Watts. Photo: Watts Gallery Trust

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