After years of hidden construction work, the first phase of the new London Bridge station opened this morning. A morning where the number of staff out to help lost passengers outnumbered the number of passengers, but it was an early start on a Bank Holiday.

Tomorrow morning it’ll be very different.

The key difference people will notice is space. The new space is vast compared to what went before. It’s also quite warm, in that while steel and concrete dominate, there is a lot of wood cladding to soften the effect.

Overall, I think people will be impressed when they first use it.

Click on the photos to enlarge them

Unfortunately, although I was only on the site for a few minutes, and surrounded by lots of staff as I was photographing, just as I was heading outside, I was stopped by a member of staff who took me over to security who insisted that I needed a permit to take photos, and even if did get a permit, I wouldn’t be allowed to take photos on the platforms.