Glasgow Queen Street refurbishment and remodelling

[PaxVobiscum]

A short video posted yesterday by Network Rail:

First morning on redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street
https://vimeo.com/228641008

7 August 2017 and its the first morning of the redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street station. Passengers coming through the station will begin to see the visual impact of work and experience some changes to how they navigate the station

Uploaded on 7 Aug 2017

 

[PaxVobiscum]

...and another update on the works filmed on Saturday afternoon. Some signs of change in the station itself now.

 

[route101]

Passed through other day , dundas street was really busy ! Though may have to do with footy on at Ibrox .

 

[PaxVobiscum]

I see from a Network Rail EGIP tweet that there is a change to the access arrangements to Queen Street Low Level - 'customers' for low level eastbound should enter by Dundas Street only.

We’ve temporarily had to close east side entrance to Platform 9 #Glasgow Queen St Low Level station to allow us to work safely in car park

Not sure if this was always the intention - first I've heard it mentioned. The lift to platform 9 doesn't seem to be affected.

The issue seems to be the building work taking place right next to the covered walkway leading to the low level platform (sorry for horrid digital zoom):

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Photo of the closed off platform 9 stairs below. It seems that water has been coming in to the passageway during recent rainstorms due to work being carried on in the old car park above. The bottom of the stairway has been sealed off with sandbags - mops and buckets can be seen behind the fencing.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

It's been a while, and quite frankly there's not a lot of exciting new things to see yet at Queen Street, but naturally that hasn't stopped me making another video about it.

 

[kilonewton]

It's been a while, and quite frankly there's not a lot of exciting new things to see yet at Queen Street, but naturally that hasn't stopped me making another video about it.

The cabins being delivered in the video are not site offices, but temporary accommodation for Scotrail staff.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

The cabins being delivered in the video are not site offices, but temporary accommodation for Scotrail staff.

Thanks for that correction.

The information came from one of the staff installing them - that's the second time I've been given duff information :roll:. I actually said to the chap that they looked awfully posh for site office cabins, were they in fact for the station staff, and was told no, they were the new site offices. Bad man!

Maybe he's a friend of the guy who told me last year the signal gantry A frame he had just helped put up was for the OHLE.

EDIT: Now corrected - thanks again!

 

[Platform1]

Anyone know when Consort House and the Millennium Hotel extension are being demolished?

 

[scotraildriver]

It's already started. Internal stripping in progress.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

A couple of pics from Wednesday 25/10/17. Men working on the roof of Milenium Hotel extension as well.
Whoops, sorry about the size, not used to the new site yet.

 

[edwin_m]

Did anyone else think that looks like a giant Jenga set, and if one pole was removed it would all come down?

I get a label saying "Click this image to display full size version". Looks like the new forum software automatically shrinks over-sized pictures to fit on the screen.

 

[najaB]

Did anyone else think that looks like a giant Jenga set, and if one pole was removed it would all come down?

I just hear this when I see it:

(Angry Birds theme song).

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Meant to say the new (temporary) staff accommodation in the cabins alongside platform 7 is now in use, but when I last looked the BTPolis and operations were still using the old bit alongside platform 2. The old booking office has been disappeared - caused me a a double take when I walked through where it used to be.

 

[route101]

Was at Queen St last saturday and there was long lines at the ticket machines with people wondering where the ticket office is . The small ticket office or ' Travelshop' as the staff called it was busy too so leave plenty of time to buy a ticket

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Since it's been a while, here's another update video. Mercifully short

 

[clc]

This would be embarrassing:

“A partially constructed building that forms part of Scotland’s biggest rail project faces being torn down in an extraordinary 11th-hour Scottish Government rethink. Sources have estimated the cost of the U-turn at Queen Street Station in Glasgow at between £3 million and £15m. Transport Scotland has ordered a review of the building in the car park, for rail staff and shops, as part of expanding the station to accommodate new electric trains on the main line to Edinburgh this year. The trains are finally due to start running in March, but other delays to the £800m Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (Egip) have already put back completion of the station until 2020.

Officials are believed to be considering a larger development in the car park. This comes despite a series of plans by Network Rail stretching back 12 years, which were later scaled back. Network Rail said: “We have paused work while we explore potential changes to the scope with the Scottish Government. “If the discussions result in a new development, then we’d most likely have to remove the steelwork.”

Continues:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/trans...t-station-building-may-be-torn-down-1-4660607

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Wow.
I was wondering why progress had been so slow recently.
Ah well, cue a series of videos on the demolition of the new buildings
At least the 'temporary' staff buildings are actually better than expected and it won't hurt too much to stay there a bit longer.

Apart from my tedious videos on the subject, there's some photos on Railscot if anyone wants to see the building in question:
www.railscot.co.uk/img/61/779/
www.railscot.co.uk/img/62/16/
www.railscot.co.uk/img/62/40/

 

[scotraildriver]

This would be embarrassing:

“A partially constructed building that forms part of Scotland’s biggest rail project faces being torn down in an extraordinary 11th-hour Scottish Government rethink. Sources have estimated the cost of the U-turn at Queen Street Station in Glasgow at between £3 million and £15m. Transport Scotland has ordered a review of the building in the car park, for rail staff and shops, as part of expanding the station to accommodate new electric trains on the main line to Edinburgh this year. The trains are finally due to start running in March, but other delays to the £800m Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (Egip) have already put back completion of the station until 2020.

Officials are believed to be considering a larger development in the car park. This comes despite a series of plans by Network Rail stretching back 12 years, which were later scaled back. Network Rail said: “We have paused work while we explore potential changes to the scope with the Scottish Government. “If the discussions result in a new development, then we’d most likely have to remove the steelwork.”

Continues:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/trans...t-station-building-may-be-torn-down-1-4660607

It would seem the the Buchanan Galleries have had a u turn and wish to be part of the development in the station after all. They had previously pulled out but apparently want back in now.

 

[NotATrainspott]

It would seem the the Buchanan Galleries have had a u turn and wish to be part of the development in the station after all. They had previously pulled out but apparently want back in now.

That seems to be precisely it.

The original plan was for BG to build a horrendous big multi-storey car park on the site, so that the existing one could be replaced with M&S. Lots of mission-critical bits of Queen Street station were going to be put in the ground floor/basement of this MSCP.

When the BG developer pulled out, NR had a big problem because they couldn't deliver EGIP without these mission-critical bits. The critical path for the whole of EGIP involved an external shopping centre developer! NR had simply no choice but to come up with a way of keeping EGIP going, or the penalties would be enormous. The new buildings they're putting the car park make it impossible to build the MSCP as planned - it's not like they're just building the first few floors and then leaving the rest for later.

Unless the BG developer commits to the development sharpish NR have little choice but to keep building these buildings. It seems quite plausible that BG will want to re-visit what they had planned for the site anyway. It's going to be quite a bit harder for them to build what they want now that mission-critical bits of Queen Street station are in the way.

 

[47271]

So if we're able to provide that level of background why wasn't Dalton able to enlighten us in The Scotsman, he must have known full well when he wrote the piece?!

 

[najaB]

It would seem the the Buchanan Galleries have had a u turn and wish to be part of the development in the station after all. They had previously pulled out but apparently want back in now.

So, not an '11th hour Scottish Government rethink' after all.

 

[edwin_m]

One hopes the developer will pay up for the alterations to the station made necessary by their late change of mind. The Scotsman article didn't actually say the cost would fall on the public purse, although it certainly implied that.

 

[clc]

This is all conjecture. The developer has always said the plans are on hold not cancelled. For all we know the developer has now told TS it no longer plans to proceed and NR is having to provide the retail instead.

 

[najaB]

For all we know the developer has now told TS it no longer plans to proceed and NR is having to provide the retail instead.

As I understand it, the building in question does provide retail space.

 

[clc]

As I understand it, the building in question does provide retail space.

Isn’t it the new staff facilities building?

 

[NotATrainspott]

Isn’t it the new staff facilities building?

Yes, it is. The retail space would be in another building tacked on to the main redevelopment. Retail is a 'nice thing to have', while the station can't run without the other building existing.

 

[najaB]

Isn’t it the new staff facilities building?

Yes, it is. The retail space would be in another building tacked on to the main redevelopment.

Ah, okay. I misunderstood. I thought that this was the 'tacked on' building.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

This news item from June 2017 escaped my notice at the time, but seems relevant (my bold on the last two bullet points):

Council approval allows early completion of Buchanan Galleries' southern extension
Council's Executive Committee today (15 June) approved a series of actions which will allow the completion of the southern extension of Buchanan Galleries to take place earlier than otherwise would have been the case.

This approval by the council means that work on the extension should begin in 2018, with completion in 2019.

Work on the extension had been suspended in July 2015 due to issues around how to work around the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) scheme at Queen Street Station.

After it became apparent that both work programmes could not be delivered in tandem, Land Securities Buchanan Limited (LSBL) undertook a full review of the options for the extension of the Galleries. In late 2016, Scottish Ministers instructed Transport Scotland to further review the potential of both EGIP and a reconfigured Buchanan Galleries extension scheme to be delivered.

As a result of these reviews, a number of option are being considered by LSBL, Transport Scotland and Network Rail, with the process supported by Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Futures Trust.

The actions approved by today's Executive Committee include varying the lease terms for LSBL from 100 years to 175 years.

Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council and City Convener for Inclusive Economic Growth, said: "The council's approval of these actions allows for the southern extension of the Buchanan Galleries to go forward while work on the EGIP scheme at Queen Street Station continues. In taking this decision, we are looking forward to significant economic benefits and opportunities for the whole city, as we work to make Glasgow city centre an even more attractive location for visitors and investors. We will work with the developer to ensure that everyone can enjoy new and existing fantastic features of the Galleries, including the steps, one of the city's most popular public spaces."

The wider extension of the Buchanan Galleries is being delivered through a TIF (Tax Increment Finance) scheme - the Buchanan Quarter TIF.

The Buchanan Quarter TIF scheme in full aims to:

• lever in £310 million of private sector investment;

• deliver around 1500 jobs to the city;

• bring £36million of extra economic activity to Glasgow annually;

• deliver a 392,000 sq ft expansion of the Buchanan Galleries;

• enable up to £80million of public infrastructure works and public realm improvements;

• create a new 1500-space car park at Queen Street Station with 35,000 sq ft of associated retail units; and

• provide 50,000 sq ft of new retail development at southern end of the existing Buchanan Galleries site.

 

[47271]

Right, so I'm confused. Are we saying that the building is coming down because:

1. The railway has changed its mind about something.

or

2. The railway has changed its mind about something because of a recent BG change of mind?

or

3. The railway has just changed its mind about something because of a BG change in June last year?