Can we turn Flinders St and Central into our Grand Central stations? A leading urban planner questions if Australia has the ‘political will’

THE main train stations in Australia’s big cities risk being shabby and second-rate if we don’t change course, an expert has warned.

ONE of the leading figures behind the multi-award-winning redevelopment of London’s King’s Cross Station — made famous globally as the place where Harry Potter catches the train to Hogwarts — has said he wonders whether Australia has the “political will” to transform our transport hubs.

Urban design expert Professor Peter Bishop, from University College London, told news.com.au he had the full backing of politicians to take land owners to court in the UK capital who wanted to demolish historic structures or construct bland buildings.

Australian politicians shouldn’t be afraid of doing the same, he said. If not, far from becoming the future Grand Centrals of the southern hemisphere, Sydney’s Central and Melbourne’s Flinders Street may end up as shabby second rate stations.

London’s King’s Cross (foreground) and St Pancras (background) stations have been redeveloped at a cost of billions.

Both stations, as well as Brisbane Central, are due to have millions lavished on them — but some of this cash is simply to repair ageing buildings.

Prof Bishop, who is a visiting academic at the University of Technology Sydney, spoke to news.com.au at Central. The station is due to see massive changes as part of the multi-billion dollar Central to Eveleigh redevelopment.

Early concepts show the rail lines covered with new parks as well as skyscrapers towering over train stations burying many parts of them underground.

His opinion of the current station which handles 250,000 people a day? “It’s OK, I mean it’s a station, it’s efficient,” he somewhat unenthusiastically told news.com.au.

Prof Bishop said it was a “nice, old building” but it was difficult to navigate, the largest concourse served the least busy platforms and the exits were overcrowded.

Professor Peter Bishop, from University College London, was the lead planner on the $7 billion redevelopment of London’s King’s Cross.

“This station is a real problem, but it’s also a hell of an asset and it has to be seen as that.”

During the mid-2000s, Prof Bishop was the planning head at the London Borough of Camden and had final say on the $7 billion King’s Cross development. At the time the area around King's Cross station, and neighbouring St Pancras station, was known more for drug dealers and sex workers than des res apartments and start-ups. Now offices have shot up, a university has moved in and futuristic extensions have been added to the stations as trains whiz off to Paris, Brussels and Edinburgh.

London’s King's Cross Station has one a slew of awards.

But Prof Bishop said it was a tough slog. Developers wanted to demolish some of the old buildings that got in their way.

“The easy option is to say it’s a problem get rid of it. The difficult option is to say, it’s a problem lets live with it. But when you give architects big problems you get better solutions.”

In one case he threatened to withhold planning permission after land owners came up with substandard answers. He needed politicians on side to ensure the message was received.

“They were tough legal agreements and they required politicians to be prepared to say [to landowners and developers] we care about producing a really good new station and we are prepared to be really bloody minded about it.”

Could Australia redevelop its big stations to be as grand as King’s Cross and St Pancras, both of which have become visitor attractions in their own right?

“Australia produced the Opera House,” said Prof Bishop. “But, I’ll be blunt. While you have the capability and money whether you’ve got the political will to do it is the question.”

Initial plans for Central have similarities to the iconic Grand Central station — and not in a good way. In New York, the concourse — seen in countless movies — remains but is hemmed in by towers all around.

Indeed, the Central to Eveleigh strategy flags “taller buildings around stations”.

Prof Bishop said this solution had its drawbacks. “The critical issue is the scale of these blocks to the historic building.

“If you stand outside Central now, the station and the tower is a powerful Sydney landmark and the real challenge is to keep that as a powerful landmark and accommodate the development.”

Politicians will need to push back against developers eager to gobble up too much of Central.

“It’s incredibly difficult for politicians to take that stance, it’s an uncomfortable place, but if you don’t do it you get second best.”

New York’s Grand Central is overshadowed by skyscrapers. Picture: Wikipedia Commons

Prof Peter Bishop said it was important any development didn’t reduce Central’s landmark view.

If Central is need of a spit and polish, Melbourne’s Flinders St could do with open heart surgery.

The Victorian Government is spending $100 million on “urgent heritage works” on the station which even they admit is “crumbling” and could end up “unsafe, unusable, and unsalvageable”.

In 2011, millions was spent on an international design competition for a future Flinders St, but little has been done since then.

Prof Bishop said while he was “a huge fan” of architectural competitions to highlight good firms, they could raise expectations of imminent improvements and the results bore little resemblance to what was built.

“The trouble with these competitions is they’re beauty parades; the idea is to seduce but most architects admit they couldn’t really do the solution [they present].”

Melbourne’s Flinders Street station but is in desperate need of an overhaul. Picture: Mark Stewart

The station is ”crumbling” admits the Government. Picture: Tim Carrafa

In one aspect, Flinders St is very comparable to the pre-development St Pancras — both have masses of unused space. The original refurbishment plan for St Pancras would have seen the historic main building left empty.

However, millions was eventually spent on converting the building, which overlooks the Eurostar platforms, into a five-star hotel with restaurants for travellers.

“It was a brave thing to do, but it’s paid off. Londoners love the fact their station is so much nicer than Gare du Nord in Paris,” Prof Bishop said.

At London St Pancras passengers can wait for their train at a bar in the old booking office. Picture: stpancraslondon.com

Prof Bishop said whatever way Central, and Australia’s other stations, were developed some fundamentals had to be borne in mind.

These included respecting the historic fabric, creating “good public space framed by good buildings”, connecting the station to the city and allowing travellers to exit and enter with ease.

“The original Central, like St Pancras and King's Cross, had this sense of the luxury of space and the experience of travelling by rail and we shouldn’t lose sight of that,” he said.

“At the end there should still be that celebration of railway travel.”

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