Guildford station re-development

[joncombe]

Re-development of Guildford station is to begin in a couple of weeks. The plans are I believe to replace the existing surface car parks with a new multi-storey and then build blocks of flats on the land freed up, with retail space on the ground floors. There is also to be a new station building at the entrance though I think the platforms and other buildings are being kept as they are.

However I was concerned to read this in the local news website (so take it with a pinch of salt), quote from https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/guildford-station-building-works-redevelopment-17093026

As well as building homes, the Solum scheme will also focus on revamping the existing Guildford station building.

Once finished, the developer says it will have a larger, double height ticket hall "with a gate-line twice as wide as the current one" to accommodate more passengers.

The scheme has apparently been designed to facilitate passenger growth up until 2035.

So the new building is planned to cope with growth only for the next 15 years (and given it's due to take 6 years, it will be 9 years once it opens). That seems remarkably short-sighted. The problem then is if that meants the new building will be at capacity after only 9 years now you have blocks of flats on either side there will be no room to expand the station any further at that point.

Seems crazy to me to re-develop a station to a design that is expected to be at capacity within 9 years! I guess it's all about how much money the developers can make off it, I suppose.

 

[Meerkat]

Is it because 2035 is as far out as the projections go, so they have made sure the design copes with those?
Assuming growth beyond that is just total guesswork (we will all be in electric pod shares, or Portsmouth will have flooded so fewer trains etc etc) and won’t make a business case

 

[tasky]

The gateline at Guildford station has long been wildly inadequate and its common to encounter quite long queues even off-peak time. Often one of the gates will be open with a staff member manually glancing at tickets to try to ease congestion. There is alternative exit to the rear but it's on the wrong side to get into town so isn't an option for most. Obviously it's a shame they're not preparing for demand past 2035 but I think any improvement will be extremely welcome.

The front of the station and car park could also be a lot nicer. The renders look alright, though they can be misleading.