Network Rail has appointed Hawkins Brown and Acme to design a major office-led redevelopment of London’s Victoria station, Building can reveal.

The two practices are working up a “transformational” rethink of the central London terminus which is comparable to the overhauls currently proposed by Network Rail for Liverpool Street and Waterloo stations, according to the transport operator’s property arm.

Robin Dobson, group property director at Network Rail Property, said the scheme would enable infrastructure improvements at the station, currently the sixth busiest in the capital, and better integrate its rail, underground and bus services.

Network Rail Property will reveal its redevelopment plans for Victoria Station next year

He told Building: “We have ambitious plans for Victoria centered around an all transportation hub in a vision across all transportation modes, unlocking lands that we own, commercial opportunitiesand then reinv esting back into infrastructure.”

The construction cost of the scheme, which will be split into five phases, is currently unknown but Dobson said it had the potential to deliver up to £3bn for Network Rail Property through commercial and retail space.

Network Rail is working with Westminster council and Transport for London’s development arm Places for London on the proposals, which are expected to be revealed in a first round of consultation next year.

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A full planning application will then be submitted either late next year or in 2026.

Network Rail is currently leading the project and is not expected to bring in private sector investment or appoint a development partner until it has “complete confidence around planning and the model for delivery”, according to Dobson.

The transport operator has been taking a much more active role on major projects over the past year, recently replacing plans for a £1.5bn redevelopment of Liverpool Street station, drawn up with Sellar and Swiss architect Herzog & de Meuron, with its own scaled back scheme designed by Acme.

Dobson said one of the changes to Network Rail’s strategy was “making sure that we bring private sector capital in at the optimum time, optimum in the sense that we’ve managed to balance the risk and the return for both Network Rail Property, but also for the private sector [and] also to bring them in when actually you have a real project, and it’s real in terms of its delivery.

>> See also: Network Rail to appoint new development partner for Liverpool Street station only after it gets planning

“And that’s why things like what we are trying to do on Liverpool Street, what we’re trying to do on Victoria, is so important because we’re positioning it in terms of bringing forward private sector partners when it’s capable of being delivered.”

The proposals for Victoria station follow a masterplan for the grade II-listed site drawn up by Allies & Morrison and WW&P, which were appointed in 2019 to identify opportunities for development and potential public realm improvements.

Victoria is one of three major station redevelopment projects in the capital which Network Rail is currently working up alongside Liverpool Street and the Grimshaw-designed overhaul of Waterloo, both of which will include substantial overstation office elements.