Euston Station – Current Summary of Development Opportunity
Background
The current HS2 Bill which is in Committee Stage in Parliament anticipates
improvements to Euston Station but only on a limited scale.
Following a review, Government has decided to change the proposal to a
major over-station development that recognises a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to maximise development potential on the site.
Towards the end of 2014 or in early 2015, Government is expected to
introduce amendments to the HS2 Bill to provide for the enhanced
development scheme.
However, the costs of this enhanced development scheme significantly
exceed those allowed for within original HS2 cost estimates and on which
the Bill is based.
Government is keen to find ways of financing these additional costs,
for which no allowance currently exists within Government budgets
The Enhanced Scheme
The vision for the project provides for the creation of a new mixed-use
neighbourhood development which will be transformational for the local
area, and capable of having a similar economic, social and environmental
regenerative impact to the recent redevelopment of the land adjoining
King’s Cross and St Pancras Stations.
The station redevelopment provides an opportunity to redefine the local
area and create an iconic development, complementing the nearby King’s
Cross regeneration and leveraging the central location together with
benefits derived from one of London’s major transport interchanges.
The project could provide over 3,500 new homes, a substantial new office
district and related retail and other community facilities, together with
significant public realm. It will not be a ‘gated’ development, but will be
designed to integrate with and enhance its surroundings.
The HS2 Bill will create compulsory purchase powers to secure control and
vacant possession of the key parts of the site which NR does not already
control. Additional adjacent land may also be acquired to enhance the
development ‘footprint’.
An initial engineering solution to the track infrastructure alterations and the
creation of additional platforms is currently being designed, in order to inform
the design of the development above. By temporarily diverting some train
services to other routes into London, it is expected that faster progress can
be made with platform and track alterations, whilst maintaining operational
continuity during the development period.
Responsibilities and Process
Network Rail (NR) is taking the lead in promoting the project, as the station is
currently owned and directly managed by them. However, in practice, sponsorship
and oversight of the project will be through a collaborative partnership between
NR, HS2 and the Department for Transport (DfT). Other parties may also be
involved, e.g. TfL/Mayor of London.
NR intends to launch a competition to appoint a strategic partner to take responsibility
for collaboratively designing (with NR and the other stakeholders), securing planning
consent and subsequently implementing the project, which will need to be developed
in phases, to reflect market demand and the progressive development of the station
beneath. The partner will be expected to provide substantial financial support itself,
as well as being able to procure third party capital as needed, over time, to complete
the project. The project should offer potential investor the chance to participate in likely
significant development gains observing the strong growth in the London property market.
The longer-term management arrangements for the completed development will also
need to be contemplated by the strategic partner, in conjunction with the other stakeholders.
Financing Considerations
The costs of the commercial/residential development will be in the region of ￡2-3bn at
current prices, including the cost of the raft over the station, which could be in excess
of ￡0.5bn.
Given the substantial shortfall in available budgets to cover the costs of the enhanced
development scheme, Government is keen to explore ideas for how the development
could be financed and funded.
The financial imperative for the project is to deliver substantial value from the
development – including both capital receipts and longer-term income streams.
The project needs to be self-financing (excluding the costs of the associated railway
infrastructure which will be funded by NR and HS2) and, ideally, be capable of
delivering net capital receipts which could make a financial contribution to other
railway infrastructure costs associated with the HS2 project.
Of critical importance will be the ability for the strategic partner to enable NR/HS2
to secure a significant initial financial contribution, as well as the prospect of ongoing
capital and revenue receipts to support working capital requirements during scheme
development. So the appropriate mechanism for sharing the project’s financial
returns will need to be carefully considered.
- 項目對接快訊
-
- 最新信息
- 熱門信息
