HS2 has submitted design changes for its Curzon Street station to Birmingham City Council.<\/p>\n
Outline planning permission for the terminus was granted in 2020, with a Mace-Dragados joint venture being awarded the \u00a3570m job the following year<\/a>\u00a0and early works starting in 2024.<\/p>\n Application papers recently submitted to the local authority said: \u201cThe design for Birmingham Curzon Street Station celebrates the city\u2019s engineering tradition through its simplicity and bold expression of structure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can be said that the station\u2019s engineering and architecture are inseparable. The process of simplification and refinement has continued through the project\u2019s technical stages with the involvement of Mace-Dragados.\u201d<\/p>\n Some 14 changes have been applied for including changing the roof cassette material from timber to aluminium and the concrete roof edge to aluminium.<\/p>\n Others include reconfiguring five concourse areas to improve accessibility and passenger experience.<\/p>\n Grimshaw is leading the architectural design of the scheme, while Arcadis and WSP are also involved in the project.<\/p>\n HS2 first announced the changes in September. At the time, Grimshaw partner Neven Sidor said: \u201cAny design for a major and complex public building needs to negotiate a journey from preliminary concept in the minds of a team of engineers and architects to a much more detailed set of technical drawings embraced by the teams of contractors that will build it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are therefore pleased to announce that the original design vision has not only been maintained but has also been enhanced through the detailed design process. It is more robust, more efficient to build, and just as elegant.\u201d<\/p>\n HS2 said redesigning the southern entrance of its eastern concourse would \u201cstrengthen the arrival experience\u201d and provide better links with the Digbeth area.<\/p>\n Other changes include \u201csimplifying\u201d facades by making them out of washable and graffiti-proof coloured ceramic tiling instead of the originally planned concrete cladding.<\/p>\n Before their 2020 approval, previous plans unveiled in 2018<\/a> were changed after then West Midlands mayor Andy Street described them, and those for HS2\u2019s Interchange station, as having \u201call the quirkiness and charm of Stansted Airport\u2019s baggage drop-off\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n