[ Foreign Office Architects ] New Street Gateway

Foreign Office Architects have unveiled their design for the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station in Birmingham, UK.

The metal-clad station features digital information boards at the entrance and is designed to handle over 52 million passengers per year.

The £600 million project, titled New Street New Start is due to be completed in 2014.

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The following is from New Street New Start:

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Passengers and the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands were shown visionary new designs for New Street station today.

The striking concept designs, clad in shimmering, reflective metal, will create a bold, modern gateway to the city for the millions of people using the station each year.

The iconic design is the work of the renowned Foreign Office Architects. They beat dozens of rivals, including many of the world’s top practices to win an international competition and land the prestigious project.

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, principal architect for Foreign Office Architects, stated:”We were inspired by the movement of people and trains at New Street and the beauty of the skyline. Our concept reflects all these components.

“We are proud to work on such an important project and I look forward to being part of the integrated team which takes this vital scheme from concept to reality.”

The station will be covered in reflective sheets of carefully crafted and finished metal and will incorporate three high technology digital displays which will make the entrances to New Street clear and easy to find.

Passengers will also enjoy the benefits of a re-designed atrium area which will flood the station with light.

The £600 million Gateway project, a joint scheme between Birmingham City Council, Network Rail, Advantage West Midlands and Centro, will double passenger capacity and create:

• a concourse that is three-and–a-half times bigger than at present and enclosed by a giant light-filled atrium
• more accessible, brighter and clearer platforms, serviced by 42 new escalators and 14 new lifts

• an iconic new station façade, adding to Birmingham’s growing reputation for good design

• better links to and through the station for pedestrians with eight new entrances

• the stimulus for the physical regeneration of the areas surrounding the station leading to the potential creation of over 10,000 new jobs across the city.

New Street in numbers:

• 35m - passengers who use New Street every year. They are delivered to the heart of the City, with direct access to the Bullring and other businesses
• 120,000 - people who pass through the station every day 60,000 - the amount of passengers per day New Street was designed to cater for when it was rebuilt in 1967
• 20 - the amount of times individual platforms at New Street have had to be closed in the last 12 months due to overcrowding
• £398m – the cost to the public purse of building New Street Gateway
• £2.3bn – the economic benefits of New Street station redevelopment
• £350 m - The amount Network Rail is investing in renewing the signalling systems through New Street and the West Midlands over the next ten years