Queen Street Station in Glasgow is planning a major redevelopment which will include the installation of mezzanine flooring to accommodate a new food court.
It is anticipated that the multi-million pound project will commence in 2013 with completion planned for 2015, although some improvements will be made in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Built in 1842 by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway and becoming part of LNER in 1923, Queen Street is the third busiest station in Scotland, handling over 19 million passengers a year.
The refurbishment is being proposed in conjunction with the Buchanan Partnership, part of the Land Securities Group and owners of the adjacent Buchanan Galleries shopping mall. A new atrium will link the station directly to Buchanan Galleries which opened in 1999 and is one of the U.K.’s largest shopping centres.
The concourse will be extended and several of the entrances have been redesigned, with the frontage onto George Square being given a clean modern look with plate glass windows. The ticket office and waiting areas will be upgraded and a new multi-storey car park for 1,500 vehicles will be constructed to replace the existing parking area, which will be converted by mezzanine flooring into a retail and restaurant complex.
The redevelopment will give Queen Street Station integrated world-class facilities for travellers and the improved leisure and retail facilities will attract visitors from a wider area. A Network Rail spokesman said that additional revenue generated from the proposed redevelopment will be reinvested back into the rail system.
