Controversial plans for a major redevelopment of Liverpool Street station have opened for public consultation.

The £1.5 billion plans, put forward by Sellar, the developer of the Shard and the Paddington Cube, would see a large hotel and office block built above the station, while the historic hotel would have the ground floor opened up to create a new entrance into the station.

Inside the station, the current open concourse would have a new floor inserted to create more floor space, while the 1980s roof would be replaced to support the new oversite development.

Although passenger numbers are still sharply down on pre-pandemic numbers, the developers say that the station still struggles at times with overcrowding.

They say that their plans would double the floor space inside the station, and with a twin floor, there will be 10 escalators, up from the 4 at the moment, and 6 additional lifts. The number of ticket barriers would increase by 40%, which would help reduce overcrowding at the gateline. They also say that the station would be step-free throughout, including adding step-free access to the London Underground.

To deliver that though, they want to demolish nearly half of the 1980s station and the replica Victorian effect building next to the station. A new station concourse would then be built, designed to support a large building above the station, which would be a mix of hotel and office space.

That oversite development has provoked a lot of concern though, particularly the scale of the buildings and that the eastern side would give the appearance of sitting on top of the historic hotel when seen from close up.

Of the £1.5 billion development, they expect that around £450 million would be spent on upgrading the station for passengers, with the rest going on the oversite development. The aim is that the entire station rebuild would be delivered by the property developer, with their profits from the oversite development covering the cost of the station upgrade.

The Victorian train sheds which are due for restoration by Network Rail will not be touched or built over, as the development sits entirely over the 1980s station concourse.

The current consultation will focus primarily on the upgrades to the station infrastructure. Evolving designs by Herzog & de Meuron for the new office, retail and leisure scheme will also be shown, with more developed proposals to be displayed at the second consultation planned for January.

The consultation is here.

If approved, the initial development programme estimates construction beginning in 2024 with completion in 2028/2029.