Friday 20 Sep 2013
New home for New Street furniture
- Region & Route:
Network Rail has donated surplus furniture from the old station offices at Birmingham New Street station to St Mary’s Hospice in the city.
The station switchover back in April not only saw passengers moving into the new concourse but also the relocation of over 100 members of station staff to new offices to allow the old station to be demolished.
Steve Lewis, Network Rail station manager explained: “Our old office furniture could easily have ended up being scrapped as part of the demolition of the old station, so it’s great that it has been donated to such a great cause.”
Claire Fudge, Head of PR and Communications, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice added: “It’s fantastic news that this furniture has been donated to us, and that Network Rail has chosen to support Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice in this way”.
The refurbishment of the old concourse at New Street started in April when it closed to passengers. Works are progressing well to create more space and better facilities for passengers, all enclosed by the stunning new open atrium which will allow natural light to flood into the station when the station redevelopment completes in 2015.
Notes to editors
The redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station and creation of Grand Central Birmingham shopping centre is backed by Birmingham City Council, Network Rail, Department for Transport, Centro, European Development Fund and Advantage West Midlands.
Network Rail is delivering the project alongside its delivery partner Mace and delivers:
Space to accommodate passenger growth: the new concourse will be three and a half times bigger than at present and will have natural light flood throughout the giant atrium.
Better access for all: over 30 new escalators and 15 new public lifts will make it much easier to travel between the platforms and the concourse above.
Cutting edge design: a stunning new station façade will create a new landmark building in the heart of Birmingham.
The station will remain open throughout the redevelopment. The first half of the new station concourse opened to passengers in April 2013. Work has now started to redevelop the old station and Pallasades shopping centre above into Grand Central. The project completes in 2015.
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