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The concept of a city square to improve the area between the BFI IMAX and Waterloo Millennium Green was introduced by former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone in his 2006 draft planning framework for Waterloo.
The scheme will include improved walking routes, simplified transport interchange and better connections between Waterloo Station and its surroundings. The square will also serve as a gateway to the South Bank's cultural institutions and visitor attractions.
Waterloo International station was the London terminus of the Eurostar international rail service from its opening on 14 November 1994 until 13 November 2007. It stands on the western side of Waterloo railway station, London. It was managed and branded separately from the mainline station.
Designed by the architectural firm Grimshaw Architects over five years, it cost £135 million and was completed in May 1993, in time for the scheduled completion of the Channel Tunnel. Construction of the Tunnel was delayed however, and the station did not open until November 1994, when it won the Royal Institute of British Architects' Building of the Year award.
Waterloo International has five platforms, numbered 20 to 24, one 20 taken from the mainline station, and four new ones, all covered by a new 400 m long glass and steel vault of 37 arches forming a prismatic structure, conceived by Anthony Hunt Associates. A two-level reception area fronts the main station concourse. The first Eurostar departure, on 14 November 1994, was formed of Eurostar units and the last service left at 18.12 on 13 November 2007 for Brussels. From the next day Eurostar services used their new London terminus of St Pancras International.
Ownership of Waterloo International station passed to BRB Residuary Ltd. Future use of all the Eurostar platforms is unclear. Some reports had suggested that they might be used for shops, but a parliamentary written answer of 4 June 2008 stated platform 20 was to be used by some South West Trains services from December 2008. Network Rail has no immediate plans to use the other four former international platforms for domestic use and the platforms have not been used since November 2007
Extensive reconstruction between 1900 and 1922 gave the station 21 platforms and a concouse nearly 800 feet long. The main pedestrain entrance, the Victory Arch, is known as Exit 5 and is a memorial to company staff who were killed during the two world wars. Damage during World War II meant that the station required considerable repairs, however no significant changes to the layout of the station were made.
Waterloo Station is the principle mainline railway terminus serving Southern England and through the Channel Tunnel (Eurotunnel) to Continental Europe. The station is on the southern bank of the River Thames between Westminster and Waterloo Bridges roughly opposite Whitehall.
The original terminus of the 1838 London and Southampton Railway was at Nine Elms but the line was extended to Waterloo in 1848. The 1848 station was rebuilt 5 years later in 1853 and was the subject to numerous expansions. The station also housed the London terminal of The London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company, a platform dedicated to the dead and their greiving relatives and friends.
In 1922 Queen Mary opened the current station. This suffered severe bomb damage during World War II but the underground passages served as safe bomb shelters to many hundreds of people.
Waterloo Station International Terminal was built between 1989 and 1994 and earned the architect Nicholas Thomas Grimshaw the RIBA gold medal for this long, low, spacious structure in steel and glass. The first high-speed rail service to France started in 1994.
Facts and Figures
At 121 Westminster Bridge Road you’ll find the remains of Necropolis Station, where, from 1902 – 1941, trains left London bearing coffins on their way to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.
The original station was opened on 11 July 1848 by the London and South Western Railway. The Necropolis station opened in October 1854 with the North station opening on 3 August 1860.
The connection to the South Eastern Railway opened in January 1864.
Waterloo Junction station (the present Waterloo East station) opened on 1 January 1869.
The South station opened on 16 December 1878 and an additional North platform was added in November 1885. The Waterloo and City station opened on 8 August 1898 while the new Necropolis station opened on 16 February 1902. The South Eastern Railway connection was decommissioned on 26 March 1911. The station was completely rebuilt between 1900 and 1922 and had its official opening on 21 March 1922. The Necropolis station was bombed on 16 April 1941 but was not rebuilt. The concourse underwent some remodelling work between 1978 and 1983.
The Necropolis Station
Near to Waterloo, at 121 Westminster Bridge Road, the London Necropolis Railway ran trains from an especially constructed station to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. The original station, at a spot near Leake Street, opened in 1854, and the Westminster Bridge Road station followed in 1902. The line was used to carry only the dead and their mourners to a London "overflow" cemetery, and operated from 1854 until 1941 when the station was bombed and never rebuilt.
The roof and platforms of the 1900 – 1922 station were designed by J. W. Jacomb-Hood and A. W. Szlumper, engineers for the LSWR.
The roof is of transverse ridge and furrow construction and is 520ft by 540ft.
The maximum single span is about 118ft.
The office buildings were designed by J. R. Scott, the chief assistant architect for LSWR. It is in Imperial Baroque style and is notable for its Victory Arch. This was designed to commemorate the loss of LSWR servicemen during the First World War. It is constructed from Portland stone and carries statues depicting War and Peace, which are placed below a statue of Britannia.