Colin Bennie is a Director at John McAslan + Partners and lead of the practice’s transport infrastructure team. Here he gives his thoughts on the importance of transport architecture in indicating a city’s ambition and sense of place.
Project Name: Belfast Grand Central Station
Studio Name: John McAslan + Partners
At John McAslan + Partners we’ve worked on major transformational transportation projects including London’s King’s Cross and more recently, Bond Street, one of the primary central stations on London’s Stirling prize-winning Elizabeth Line, as well as two stations for Sydney Metro’s City Line and the new Belfast Grand Central Station which recently opened as the largest integrated transport hub on the island of Ireland. Each, despite differing client briefs, has served to illustrate the power of well-designed infrastructure to redefine urban landscapes, how people use and perceive their cities and support regeneration. These projects underscore the role of transit hubs as catalysts for sustainable development and economic revitalisation, setting the ambition for future urban planning.
At Sydney’s Waterloo Metro station, for example, our carefully integrated design has unlocked residential expansion around this new transport node, much in the way the UK will need to consider as part of the new towns being explored by the newly appointed Labour administration.
At Belfast’s Weavers Cross, community-driven design adjustments during design development—like rebalancing building heights and carefully considering and positioning entrances and permeability—helped strengthen connections with adjacent communities, showcasing the impact of inclusive planning on local acceptance and integration. Similarly, in the decade since we finished our redevelopment of King’s Cross station in London, the area has seen an economic transformation, adding over 19,000 jobs and elevating property values by 125%. This success story highlights how large-scale, city-centre transit hubs can generate significant growth, supporting their cities’ evolution into interconnected, globally competitive destinations.
Achieving such transformational change demands more than funding commitments alone; it requires a unified vision and commitment to consult to integrate transport infrastructure with existing and future urban development that can take many political cycles to reach completion. Of course, the more voices and objectives added into the mix, the more complex it is to achieve. Especially if goalposts move owing to changing funding, legislation or administrations as we’ve witnessed at London’s Euston station. The primary connection from the Capital to the north has long exceeded its shelf life, barely able to cope with normal operations, congested and overcrowded. While once it represented the future of electrified fast rail travel, passenger numbers are now far beyond the station’s designed capacity. Externally, the station’s redevelopment in the 1960s physically disconnected it from the main Euston Road. While the setback was implemented for logical reasons, it poorly integrated the station with surrounding neighbourhoods and instead hemmed it in by commercial buildings that severed visual connections and created disjointed links to other modes of transport. This resulted in a confusing, disorienting passenger experience, with limited support for orientation, intuitive navigation, and wayfinding that remain today. As cities like London face rising commuter volumes and changing leisure travel patterns, Euston exemplifies the urgent need for transport infrastructure that can adapt to modern demands.
Modern station design must prioritise both functionality and accessibility. Spacious and civic, well-lit environments with clear wayfinding and visual connections between spaces help travellers feel safe and navigate easily. Embedding a mix of uses with leisure, retail and even commercial conveniently and considerately located, can also generate revenue and create a sense of place, amenity and purpose beyond the primacy of transport. This attention to user comfort and safety makes rail and metro systems more attractive, encouraging sustainable transit choices that benefit both individual passengers and the broader city.
As we’ve seen with the delivery of the RIBA Stirling Prize-winning Elizabeth Line, when handled thoughtfully and though the rigours of consultation and collaborative working, transport architecture does more than facilitate travel; it can allow stations to serve social, environmental and economic value, creating new civic spaces, and supporting regeneration through places to live, work and play.
You could argue that the vision behind transformative urban projects is universal regardless of the sector: to enrich urban fabric and foster growth in a way that supports the pressing challenges cities face today. Reimagining, well-planned transport infrastructure should do exactly that – acting as an anchor for vibrant, economically resilient communities and a foundation for sustainable urban growth and renewal.
