Liverpool Street Station
Transforming Britain’s busiest station into a green urban gateway
Location
London, UK
Year
2024 — 2036
Client
Network Rail
Role
Lead Landscape Architect
Partners & Collaborators
ACME, AECOM, AVR London, Certo Construction, Donald Insall Associates, Gerald Eve, GIA Surveyors, Gleeds, Intelligent Data Collection, JLL, Mima | Certified B Corp™, Shared Voice.
Typology
Services
SLA is leading the landscape and public realm design for the comprehensive transformation of London Liverpool Street Station, recently granted final planning approval by the City of London.
With 98 million passengers annually (2025), Liverpool Street is the busiest railway station in the United Kingdom. As passenger numbers are expected to exceed 200 million per year in the coming decades, the need for a significant upgrade has been long overdue.
The project secures the long-term future of the historic 1864 station while redefining its role as a public space at the heart of the City of London – the financial district known as the “Square Mile.”
Bringing Green Qualities to the Square Mile
SLA’s transformation introduces a major expansion of the station concourse and forecourt, new and improved pedestrian and cycle connections, and step-free access to all platforms. At the same time, the project delivers a substantial uplift of the area’s green qualities in one of Europe’s most dense and infrastructure-heavy urban environments.
For SLA, the ambition has been clear: to ensure that urban nature and landscape are not an afterthought to architecture, but a key driver of the entire transformation.
“This planning approval is a big and important step – not just for Liverpool Street Station, but for how London rethinks some of its most complex places: the major transport hubs that serve hundreds of thousands of people every day. At SLA, we have worked to ensure that landscape and City Nature are not simply a supplement, but one of the driving forces behind the transformation.”
— Rasmus Astrup, Design Principal & Senior Partner
A New Public Realm at Street Level
At ground level, the project creates new accessible public spaces with more room to move, more places to stay, and clearer pedestrian flows through the area. It strengthens local green connections and introduces robust urban nature designed to improve biodiversity and enhance the microclimate in the City of London’s highly pressured urban setting.
The design repositions and elevates the historic Kindertransport memorial, giving it a more dignified and integrated setting within the public realm.
The project also delivers the largest green roof in the City of London – a generous green space in the middle of one of the world’s most dense financial districts.
Landscape-Led Transformation in London
With Liverpool Street, SLA has now helped secure planning approvals for four of the largest and most complex projects in London within a single year: Liverpool Street Station, Earls Court (twice), and 1 Undershaft.
The transformation of London Liverpool Street Station is estimated at approximately DKK 10 billion.
Completion is expected in 2036.
“To us, this project signals something important: that nature-based, landscape-led design is increasingly recognised as essential – not only to secure political support and approvals, but to create real, long-term value for residents, visitors, and the thousands of people who use these places every day. Places that are generous, green, and open to all – even in the heart of one of the world’s busiest cities.”
— Rasmus Astrup, Design Principal & Senior Partner
