Birmingham New Street Redevelopment (Gateway Plus)
Birmingham, UK · 2010–2015 · £750m (total redevelopment cost)
The judgement call
Account-gated at launchThe project successfully integrated a major transport hub with a significant retail development (Grand Central). - Sustainability was a key consideration from the planning stage, contributing to the project's success. - The project demonstrated the complexity of aligning multiple stakeholders (Network Rail, local council, retail developers) in a large-scale urban regeneration scheme.
Key engineering challenges
Redeveloping the UK's busiest railway interchange while keeping it fully operational. - Constructing a new station concourse and retail space above live railway lines. - Logistical challenges of transferring 200 tonnes of steel for the atrium roof within a constrained urban environment. - Acquisition of the former Pallasades shopping centre for integration into the new design.
Project facts
- Client / owner
- Network Rail, Birmingham City Council
- Lead contractor
- Mace (delivery partner), MPB Structures (sub-contractor)
- Lead designers
- Atkins
- Project type
- upgrade, refurbishment
- Scale
- Concourse five times larger; vast atrium roof (200 tonnes of steel); integration with Grand Central retail development; 12 new escalators, 30 new lifts.
- Disciplines
- civil; structural; architectural; mechanical; electrical; retail development; urban planning
- Standards & frameworks
- Network Rail standards, CDM Regulations
Sources: MPB Structures (undated, https://www.mpb.co.uk/projects/new-street-station/); Mace Group (undated, https://www.macegroup.com/projects/birmingham-new-street-station-refurbishment/); Railway Technology (Dec 2015, https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/birmingham-station/)