Dean Nicholas

New Public Piazza For Waterloo Station

The grand entrance to Waterloo station is one of the more impressive in London. Pity, then, that it's partly obscured by an imposing Sixties block, and that reaching it requires negotiating a maze of metal barriers and bike lane fragments. Not the best impression for Britain's busiest railway station.

A project by David Chipperfield Architects seeks to improve matters by demolishing the offending block, Elizabeth House, and replacing it with a new building that, while unlikely to win any design awards, does at least open up access to the station.



The firm has submitted plans for a £600m development (pictured top), consisting of one 10-storey building and a 29-storey tower. At ground level the development is raised on circular columns to improve pedestrians flow between the South Bank and Waterloo.

The proposal also comes with a new public piazza, Victory Arch Square. Meeting a friend at Waterloo will no longer mean standing underneath the clock.

More about the project at Building Design (registration required)