Projects About Thinking News Contact
Back to Projects

Elizabeth Line, Liverpool Street Station

Location
City of London, UK & Europe
Status
Completed
Year
2021
Experience
Transport

The Elizabeth Line, built as Crossrail, is one of the largest infrastructure projects undertaken in Europe. 42km of tunnels beneath London connect 10 new stations, with another 30 being improved for the new service. The fully accessible network of 40 stations now links Reading and Heathrow west of London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, increasing London's public transport capacity by 10%.

WilkinsonEyre has been involved with the development of the Crossrail station at Liverpool Street since the initial phase of the project dating back to the mid-1990s and were re-engaged when the project started up again in 2002. Our appointment has taken the scheme through design stages, including safeguarding the design intent on behalf of the client.

The design of Liverpool Street Station comprises two platform tunnels stretching 245m connecting Moorgate and Liverpool Street Stations as well as new ticket halls and escalator boxes to street level with connections to existing LUL and Network Rail services. 

The planning of the new tunnels had to work around numerous subsurface constraints that included the existing Northern and Circle Lines, Post Office Railway, piling and foundations of existing buildings as well as anticipating new over-site development. The platform facings and  low-level connecting tunnels have a common design GRC panelling system for the subways and platforms, shared with the other stations on the route, all other design and spatial planning elements at the station are by WilkinsonEyre. 

Our architectural approach was driven by the desire to maximise height in constrained spaces and introduce as much daylight as possible to the subterranean areas. A shallow, geometric folded ceiling plane formed by ribbed pre-cast concrete soffit panels breaks the perception of the low flat ceilings to create a greater sense of space, scale and movement. 

The entrance into the underground eastern ticket hall is through a striking, fivemetrehigh glazed canopy located in an open pedestrian plaza at Broadgate. Natural light filters below ground during the day, while at night the canopy acts as a lantern with artificial lighting from inside shining out of the glazed entrance to illuminate the streetscape.

The western ticket hall is at street level and accessed through an angular portal entrance, framed by bold blue coloured glass. New forecourts and plazas around both entrances create pedestrian friendly, accessible spaces with wide pavements.

Adding value and improving the passenger experience was an important element throughout design development and options appraisal; this includes revising the location and design of the Moorgate-end of the station. The station was changed from an initial stand-alone into a fully integrated station, allowing the existing ticket hall to remain operational during construction.

Related
HS2 Old Oak Common
Old Oak Common is the interchange station for HS2 as it enters London from the north west, linking the high speed line with conventional rail to the West of England, Wales and Heathrow.
Delivering Crossrail, Liverpool Street Station
Oliver Tyler, Director at WilkinsonEyre, has led the design of Liverpool Street Elizabeth Line through several iterations since 1992. Here he describes the design journey and the constraints faced by the team on this slo…
Bank Station Re-Opens
Current phase of upgrade work at Bank station completes
Get in touch with us
  • info@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • press@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • newbusiness@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • London

    33 Bowling Green Lane
    London EC1R 0BJ
    United Kingdom

    T +44 (0)20 7608 7900 info@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • Hong Kong SAR

    13/F China Hong Kong Tower
    8-12 Hennessy Road
    Wan Chai, Hong Kong

    T +852 2110 8055 asiapacific@wilkinsoneyre.com
  • Sydney

    201 Kent Street
    Sydney PO Box R55
    NSW 2000, Australia

    T +61 02 9247 07 40 australia@wilkinsoneyre.com
Instagram LinkedIn Twitter
Privacy Policy
  • Design TM
  • Development morphsites