Development around Euston ‘should be on a bigger scale’

The development around the new HS2 station at Euston should be on a bigger scale than currently envisaged. That’s the message that came from our London focused session at the HS2 Economic Growth Conference where the local planning authority’s Development Director spoke. 

Camden Council is due to publish its planning blueprint for the redevelopment of the station, which will be HS2’s central London terminus, early next year. This document will inform the outline planning application, which HS2 and its joint venture partner Lendlease, is looking to submit within two to three years.
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HS2’s own Euston area plan has identified opportunities for 5m sq ft of development on the site, but David Joyce, Director of Regeneration & Planning at Camden Council told delegates at the HS2 Economic Growth Conference that the authority is keen to see an even greater level of ambition for the site: “We want more ambition for Euston and to maximise the opportunity and a higher level of growth.”

Joyce said Camden is also keen to use the ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ presented by HS2 to improve links with the communities immediately surrounding the station, and the neighbouring Knowledge Quarter in the surrounding area.

HS2 could improve its response to local residents’ concerns about the disruption caused by the project, he said: “Residents feel under pressure from things like dust, noise and vibration and don’t yet see the benefits. We must marry ambition with avoiding disruption in the here and now. A very real impact is being felt by communities. A child born today in Euston will have a building site on their doorstep for their whole childhood.”

Joyce also expressed concern about uncertainties surrounding the project, including whether Crossrail 2 is given the green light: “I feel sometimes like a fortune teller because large parts of the jigsaw need to be set.”

Lucinda Turner, Director of Spatial Planning at Transport for London (TfL), said the new line linking south west and north east London is essential for relieving the pressure from the additional passengers that HS2 will deliver to Euston: “The issue at Euston is added pressure on services. We believe that Crossrail 2 is vital to relieve pressure so that local people can still get on the tube and bus services.”

She said that the key transport challenge at the Old Oak hub is knitting the new station into the existing local rail and underground network.

Michael Mulhern, Chief Executive Officer of the Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation, said his organisation requires a ‘little more funding’ to deliver local infrastructure.

And he said that the development corporation had recently set up a community review group which will provide a vehicle for local people and businesses to review emerging masterplans and planning applications.

Mulhern told delegates that the corporation’s key early priority is the first phase of 10,000 homes on the section of the site to the north of the Grand Union Canal. The corporation has submitted a bid for £250m from Homes England’s (HIF (housing infrastructure fund) to pump prime the site with infrastructure including a bridge, energy centre and sub stations. 

They’re also aiming to capitalise on the huge investment HS2 is making in the area to deliver what he described as a ‘major new town centre in west London’ containing 25,000 new homes and enough commercial floorspace for 60,000 jobs, he said: “It’s game changer for west London in an area of real housing need. It will bring Old Oak up to the highest level of public transport accessibility.”

Tom Venner, Commercial Development Director at HS2 said Euston is the government’s single biggest real estate project ever: “Stations are more than about trains, they transform the property markets where they land, They are about amenity for local people and being destinations in their own right..”

And getting Old Oak right is critical to the success of the wider HS2 network because of its role as the network’s London terminus until Euston has been redeveloped, he said: “What happens to Old Oak is critically important because it is the new front door to all parts of the HS2 network.”

 

PBA, now part of Stantec, give their perspective of the London Hubs:

The ambition of London to deliver major projects linked to HS2 is fully evident. The commitment of David Joyce (LB Camden) and Michael Mulhern (Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation) to their projects at Euston and Old Oak shone through.

Euston – delivering a major development of 5M sq ft around the station, with improved links to the local community and neighbouring knowledge quarter; and

Old Oak Common – delivering a new city quarter which will provide 25,000 new homes, 60,000 new jobs based around a new west London town centre.

In both cases – the statement of ambition is transparent, as are the technical and financial challenges of delivering both the environment for development, and the connections to the wider network. Why is it so important that both are delivered?

London has a great responsibility to bear – it has to act both as a stimulus for growth in the capital – but more – it has to act as a gateway to growth in the Midlands and North. History shows that regional growth is best delivered from the existing strengths of local communities and their economies. HS2 will only deliver access to the capital’s markets necessary to support this if high levels and quality of onward connectivity are provided.

As Lucinda Turner (TfL) pointed out, the key challenge for both Euston and Old Oak is how to provide the connectivity and capacity needed for onward connections. At Euston, this means Crossrail 2, and connections to tube and bus services; and as our work as part of the Old Oak Common Masterplan team shows, it also means overcoming major severance created by previous transport and industrial uses to deliver integration between HS2 and the surrounding transport network.

For both projects, re-configuration of HS2 station proposals is also important, to underpin the effectiveness with which these ambitions can be delivered. All the stakeholders understand this, but the impacts on cost and programme are understandably a major concern to politicians and their electorate; and future theoretical economic benefit is not a convincing argument for them. As a result, progress has been slower than anyone would have liked.

Ultimately, the benefits of the scheme will flow from its future users, and the users of the wider UK transport network where greater capacity and connectivity can be delivered. How do we get a better understanding of the benefits that will accrue to them – and what this means for the project itself? Can we use this to create greater momentum behind the changes to the scheme that need to be made.

Perhaps part of the answer can be found in Michael Mulhern’s reference to a phased approach. What is needed now – and what can be left until later. Delivering major infrastructure and high quality environments doesn’t always lend itself well to an incremental approach, but whatever advantage can be gained for effective phased delivery should be taken.

In any event, once it is accepted that the primary role of HS2 is as an enabler, so the need to deliver high quality onward connectivity becomes a key requirement for the success of the project.
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