London Bridge station (redevelopment)

London Bridge opened in December 1836 and was built in the 19th century as two separate stations. Since its rebuilding, a single concourse leads to all fifteen platforms, a first in more than a century and a half.

The operation began with a master plan consented in 2000, the work of TP Bennett and Alan Baxter. Grimshaw was appointed in 2010 to design the station, building work started in 2012, and the station, which stayed in service throughout, was officially reopened by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, on 9 May 2018. Carried out for Network Rail, the rebuilding is the cornerstone of the Thameslink project, which aims to increase the number of passengers who can travel through London.

In 2019 the project won the RIBA London Award and the RIBA London Building of the Year Award, and it was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize.

After the master plan, TP Bennett and Alan Baxter also carried out the early design stages (GRIP 3 and RIBA Stage 2); the project was then taken forward by a team led by Grimshaw. Donald Insall Associates was the conservation architect.

Below the tracks, a ground-level concourse, bigger than the football pitch of Wembley stadium, cuts through the existing brick viaducts, addressing the barrier that the station once formed between north and south Bermondsey. Fifteen platforms and their tracks bridge it on twenty-nine decks, whose steel girders are encased in concrete to improve the concourse's acoustics. The programme adds three through tracks and reduces the number of terminating platforms.

Daylight reaches the concourse through gaps left in the platforms, and timber-clad soffits soften the space. Above ground the canopy rolls out in undulating ribbons that admit light and mark the middle of the concourse. Bricks from the demolished arches were reused to build new walls inside the station.

The shop-lined Western Arcade links the concourse to the Underground. It stands where a market was held when the station was built, and its length has more than tripled. Its new arches, in concrete bearing the imprint of the formwork boards, take their cue from the original brick arches and echo the brutalist legacy of the South Bank; their material sets them apart from the Victorian arches.

A Network Rail station, London Bridge gives access to every platform from one concourse and offers connections with other rail services and with the Underground. The station has shops, cafés and places to eat.

The entrances open onto Tooley Street and St Thomas Street. Every platform can be reached without steps by lift.