A company that helped link Sweden to Denmark by bridge and undersea tunnel is to head the next phase of Birmingham’s project to redevelop New Street Station.

WSP Group has been appointed by a joint project group, including public transport promoter Centro, to take forward a £3.9m design and development study.

The consultancy will look at the design work in detail and commercially evaluate a £350m development scheme to be delivered by Network Rail and funded by a multi-agency group of  Advantage West Midlands, Birmingham City Council, Centro, Government Office of the West Midlands, Network Rail and the Strategic Rail Authority.

“More people than ever are travelling into central Birmingham by train and we must not under-estimate the importance of this project to the West Midlands,” comments Centro director general Rob Donald.  “It will provide a vast improvement to the daily journey of the growing number of rail commuters and a landmark gateway to the city at the heart of the national rail network.  With today’s appointment of WSP and their partners, we should look forward to a robust and commercially viable scheme to take the project forward to the next stage as quickly as possible.”

WSP Group plc, one of the UK’s major multi-disciplinary consultancies with clients in both the public and private sectors will now undertake and lead the study, having teamed up with architects John McAslan & Partners and Chapman Taylor on the project. 

Links:

Network Rail news release, with more details and comments from all project partners
WSP UK
Chapman Taylor architects
John McAslan & Partners:   (home page)