Queen Street Station revamp unveiled
September 27 2011
The multi-million-pound redevelopment project, designed to complement the expansion of the Buchanan Galleries shopping complex, will transform the appearance and facilities of the station to create a landmark mixed-use development incorporating both the current station footprint and the airspace above the station car park.
New entrances from Cathedral Street and the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre will be created, and the 1960s front entrance will give way to a modern glass frontage.
Inside the train station there will be an extended concourse, access to a new mezzanine level food court, and an atrium link into the extended Buchanan Galleries shopping centre. The mezzanine and food court will be created in the air space above the current station car park, while that car park will be replaced with a better designed, modern transport interchange and multi-storey parking facility.
David Simpson, Network Rail route managing director for Scotland, said: “Glasgow Queen Street is one of the busiest stations in Scotland handling more than 19 million passengers a year and the proposals announced today will deliver a more modern station with enhanced retail and leisure facilities for those travellers.
“The Buchanan Partnership’s exciting plans for the station will also greatly enhance the appeal of the wider city centre to rail passengers and shoppers alike and this partnership allows Network Rail to redevelop this important station in a cost-effective way and generate additional revenue which we can reinvest in the nation’s railways.”
Lester Hampson, head of retail, Land Securities, said: “The redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street Station will create a world-class integrated transport hub and is an important element in progressing our aspiration to enhance and expand the Buchanan Quarter, cementing Glasgow’s position as the top retail and leisure destination outside London.”
Work will begin in 2013, and is expected to be completed by 2015. There will be some improvements at the station entrances prior to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
19 Comments
#1 Posted by Carlo M on 27 Sep 2011 at 11:56 AM
Disappointing IMHO.Glad that horrible hotel extension will be removed but a frameless glass front replacement must have taken five minutes to think up. There are many Mackintosh student projects for this site much better. Who are the architects?
#2 Posted by Me on 27 Sep 2011 at 13:15 PM
Much better than the existing, but surely the blank gables can be addressed / better resolved?
#3 Posted by Carlo M on 27 Sep 2011 at 14:00 PM
I agree it is much better than the existing but then demolition alone would be better:-0
#4 Posted by Sven on 27 Sep 2011 at 14:03 PM
The station is opened up for the first time. I think that this is an inviting and bright approach when entering the city centre. Imaginative no, but it will be a landmark due to the nature of the train station.
#5 Posted by Brian on 27 Sep 2011 at 14:43 PM
I also think they should incorporate a mackintosh theme.Pity the low level isnt being linked up to subway .it would be great to travel from west end to east end and just a short tunnel to join the 2 modes of transport.extending the reach of the subway would be exellent especially to east end.
#6 Posted by Jimbo on 27 Sep 2011 at 15:02 PM
Wish they would just provide some more seats and some bins first!!!
#7 Posted by david nimmo on 27 Sep 2011 at 17:36 PM
Brian, you are not seriously suggesting that they do a Scotrail tribute to CRM? That happened to the Savoy Centre a few decades ago and it wasn't pretty.
Opening it up, brilliant, but it would be great to get something of a quality appropriate to George Square, and the Victorian shed looming up behind is a good start. I don't like the trees much either - they look like something from the Aviemore Centre, but no doubt it was all that was available in the graphics package.
Opening it up, brilliant, but it would be great to get something of a quality appropriate to George Square, and the Victorian shed looming up behind is a good start. I don't like the trees much either - they look like something from the Aviemore Centre, but no doubt it was all that was available in the graphics package.
#8 Posted by a missed opportunity on 28 Sep 2011 at 08:14 AM
I am reminded of the wonderful extension to king's cross currently on site by John McAlsan.
http://www.archdaily.com/162461/in-progress-kings-cross-station-john-mcaslan-partners/jmp-kings-x-011_credit-hufton-crow/
I'm afraid, that, while everyone is saying that this is an improvement, all things are relative, and this is a real missed opportunity to do something wonderful in George Square.
http://www.archdaily.com/162461/in-progress-kings-cross-station-john-mcaslan-partners/jmp-kings-x-011_credit-hufton-crow/
I'm afraid, that, while everyone is saying that this is an improvement, all things are relative, and this is a real missed opportunity to do something wonderful in George Square.
#9 Posted by david nimmo on 28 Sep 2011 at 08:34 AM
Totally, but what are the chances of anyone spending that kind of money on a Glasgow railway station in the 21st century? PS Are they doing anything about the entrance to King's Cross, it is almost as bad as Queen Street. Plus they have blocked Platform 9 3/4. bad news, that.
#10 Posted by a missed opportunity on 28 Sep 2011 at 08:46 AM
I hear it time and again, and it is true - Good design does not have to cost money. All it requires is a healthy imagination. And that is what is evidently lacking from the current scheme proposals.
#11 Posted by Brian on 28 Sep 2011 at 10:33 AM
I agree the savoy was done in a bad 60s style mackintosh didnt work at all.i was thinking more an etched glass ,Any chance we can access the subway through this new concorse entrance without having to cut through and out other end.
#12 Posted by Alan Dunlop on 28 Sep 2011 at 10:49 AM
I think the Economist Building grouping, around a new public space gives more of a clue, myself.
#13 Posted by a missed opportunity on 28 Sep 2011 at 14:10 PM
You're referring to the area which currently serves taxi rank I assume Alan?
#14 Posted by Alan Dunlop on 28 Sep 2011 at 14:24 PM
It's a difficult problem that requires something more than continuing the pavement line with a ubiquitous glass screen, I agree with Carlo M in this regard, that involves no architectural thought whatsoever and only underlines the complexity of the problem, the exposed gables either side for example, what do you do with those?
There is enough space I think to consider the site not as an entrance to the station but as a piece of new townscape, like the Economist Triptych with three built elements,
( including the station roof) enclosing a public space, which can be covered or not and which gradually steps up and leads into the station itself.
There is enough space I think to consider the site not as an entrance to the station but as a piece of new townscape, like the Economist Triptych with three built elements,
( including the station roof) enclosing a public space, which can be covered or not and which gradually steps up and leads into the station itself.
#15 Posted by david nimmo on 28 Sep 2011 at 17:17 PM
Sounds much more like the business (though the Economist group itself is actually pretty bleak and I have never seen anyone using it. Then, at ground level, there isn't much to use I think.)
#16 Posted by Frank Lloyd Wrong on 1 Oct 2011 at 11:11 AM
This is a nice render and illustrates well that the trains are now visible from the Square (a nice touch) but let's face it, you can't polish a t*rd.
In reality, this is an ill thought out unimaginative glass box that does absolutely nothing to address the form and scale of its context. Look at its relationship to its neighbours?
In reality, this is an ill thought out unimaginative glass box that does absolutely nothing to address the form and scale of its context. Look at its relationship to its neighbours?
#17 Posted by urgh... on 2 Oct 2011 at 12:25 PM
little boxes, on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same...
#18 Posted by Glasgow's Shame on 3 Oct 2011 at 02:17 AM
A few people keep suggesting that the only redeeming feature is that the trains are now visible. I can assure you they won't be! The trains do not come that far forward and even if the platforms were extended they would still be obscured by information screens, security gates, benches, bins and the mass of commuters.
#19 Posted by Stuart Hay on 4 Jul 2012 at 10:01 AM
Or... they could pop down to Poundland, buy some buckets and mops and simply clean the station they do have occassionaly.
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