http://guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2011/jan/11/edinburgh-haymarket-station-new-design-plans-meeting
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
"Haymarket station plans 'could be mistaken for a supermarket' "
(22 posts)-
Posted 14 years ago #
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Well it is at the bottom of Morrisons St after all...
*tumbleweed*
Posted 14 years ago # -
sweet lord it's like something
droppedexcreted out of the seventies...Posted 14 years ago # -
"
GdnEdinburgh:The redesign and refurbishment of Haymarket station has been approved by councillors.
"
Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/GdnEdinburgh/status/25160058388086784Posted 14 years ago # -
'Ugly' revamp of Haymarket gets go-ahead
http://www.scotsman.com/news/39Ugly39-revamp-of-Haymarket-gets.6688708.jp
"Work to transform Haymarket station in Edinburgh is expected to get underway next year after councillors backed Network Rail's £30 million vision yesterday.
The revamp will see a major extension built on to the rear of the A-listed station to allow the facility to handle a predicted growth in passenger numbers from 4.1 million to around nine million by 2030."
Posted 14 years ago # -
This is Edinburgh.
Network Rail can't 'afford' to do any better and CEC hasn't the power/will to force/encourage something less bad - never mind attractive.
Of course that is all subjective. There will be people who wish the original station building was being demolished to 'allow' something 'better' visually and - perhaps - more functional.
Maybe this is Network Rail's 'revenge'.
It's just sad to reflect that we live in a rich country in a rich part of the world and that 'public' buildings - in prominent places and used by millions of people - have to be so dull.
No doubt we are meant to be grateful that Waverley is being refurbished rather than being turned into a shopping mall/office block - which of course was once the "only way" to pay for improvements.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Apart from the debate about the actual building I was struck by the predicted passenger numbers. 9 million in 2030 up from 4.1 million today.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Based on either linear projections from the best years growth they can get away with or based on projections where the price of fuel hits a £5/l and both road bridges fall into the sea.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I hope the plans also consider how to allow the increased volumes of passengers to freely flow to and from the station, not just once they're inside the improved concourse (or to and from the tram-stop). Whilst a pleasingly large amount of people walk to and from the station at present the pavements and crossings they have to work their way along and across aren't ideal. A pedestrian underpass beneath Haymarket (such as would be found at a similar junction anywhere else in the world) would be nice.
As the extension's to be at the rear of the building I assume it'll involve a further length of Haymarket Terrace being reduced to a narrow barrier-defined footway and a greatly-narrowed roadway, if not a repeat of the tramwork-style diversion.
Posted 14 years ago # -
That's a good point about the external access to the station. Approaching from Ryries you have that narrow bit of pavement outside Starbucks. There are big bins on one side and taxis swinging in on the other.
It doesn't really work when a big train has just unloaded. And then try and actually get into the building...Posted 14 years ago # -
the pavements and crossings they have to work their way along and across aren't idea
I get miffed by this every time I walk down from Morrison Street and have to detour around all the security fencing - the junction layout at Haymarket has quite obviously not been designed with the free flow of pedestrians in mind (in fact, when I cycle through this every day, I don't think it's been designed with the free flow of anything in mind!).
There's also no pedestrian crossing outside the station itself. If you want to cross the road to get to the the Eastbound bus stop, the quickest way is just to stride out across the road. The other annoyance here is that there is no longer any footbridge across the tracks from Dalry Road (it must have been removed many years ago), meaning you have to go all the way round the narrow pavements observed above and then back on yourself.
It's not a great station to get to if you're in a hurry.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Euan Leitch of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland told us:
"Hearing so many member of the planning committee express disappointment at the quality and ambition of the proposals was reassuring that they recognise poor design.
"That it was then voted through is indicative of a lack of confident leadership in city planning."
"
http://guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2011/jan/14/edinburgh-haymarket-new-station-design
Posted 14 years ago # -
Access to the platforms without having to pick up and carry bike/luggage/prams etc etc up and down stairs, oh and access through the barriers with a bike which doesn't involve blocking half a dozen people/the main door would be nice... given the usual standards of planning I'm not holding my breath though :-/
Posted 14 years ago # -
"Access to the platforms without having to pick up and carry bike/luggage/prams etc etc up and down stairs"
I thought they were currently putting in lifts - so I'm wrong/confused!(?)
Posted 14 years ago # -
I thought they were currently putting in lifts - so I'm wrong/confused!
Yes there's lift access going in to all platforms at the moment. Not sure of progress but last photos from Railbrit showed the lift towers largely in place.
Posted 14 years ago # -
"last photos from Railbrit showed the lift towers largely in place"
Couldn't find those. Found this -
"
01/03/2010 £3.75m investment for Queen Street and Haymarket [Transport Scotland]
A £1.5m investment to improve access at Haymarket has been moved up to April. The project has been accelerated so that two new lifts will be installed by the end of the year - almost one year early.
"Running late then?...
Posted 14 years ago # -
Seen on 20 November, with the 1842 'A' listed station building in the background, the tower for the lift to Platforms 2 and 3 is substantially complete. The lift to Platform 4 is in a similar state. Platform 1 together with the seldom-used Platform 0 have level access.
Posted 14 years ago # -
@kaputnik
ta for pic
"Platform 1 together with the seldom-used Platform 0 have level access."
Presumably only by arrangement or has the 'car park access' been reopened?
Posted 14 years ago # -
I'm so pleased that Planning thought that it was entirely in keeping with architectural harmony to take the Royal Commonwealth Pool's derelict flume tower and bolt it onto the back of a lovely old stone station building. Why does everything now have to look like a bloody greenhouse? >:-(
We've also lost every passenger station on the South Sub, Leith Central was turned into a car park and a swimming pool, Princes St was turned into offices, North Leith was turned into a youth club, Abbeyhill was forgotten about, Corstorphine was turned into flats. And Haymarket only has two lines at one end of it - and yet they want to somehow turn it into the western hub of railed transport in Edinburgh? It would be like trying to extend Falkirk High. The only option is to lengthen it westwards and eke out every last metre of ground. Haymarket Yards? Oh, of course. They sold that off too.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Good point on the lifts, (my sep field had hidden them from me ;-)) assuming that is that they begin/remain working and that they are accessible/available for cycles...
Posted 14 years ago # -
Presumably only by arrangement or has the 'car park access' been reopened?
The irony of there being "level access" here is that the only way down to it almost un-negotiable through the tram works - at least previously you could opt to take your wheelchair up the stairs between Caley Ale House and the station building.
Why does everything now have to look like a bloody greenhouse?
Perhaps the designers of Edinburgh Park could enlighten us. One of the most miserable, un-inspired and unsuitable pieces of contemporary transport architecture I've had the misfortune to use. The sort of station by virtue of its location that gets a lot of traffic but concentrated into two rush hours of "getting to work" and "getting home", yet with utterly constricting stairs / lifts / exits and a solitary ticket machine and information displays positioned in particularly inconvenient locations. I really like the architect's touch of making sure that all the "shelters" are open to the wind sweeping across the undeveloped southwest portion of Edinburgh Park.
Posted 14 years ago # -
"THE original plans for a major revamp of Haymarket station could still go ahead despite Network Rail pressing on with a scaled-back redevelopment, it emerged today."
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Original-Haymarket-plans-haven39t-hit.6705911.jp
Posted 14 years ago #
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