Key Details

Overview

Paddington Station complex in Paddington, London W2.

Entrances to the station on Praed Street, Eastbourne Terrace (Elizabeth line) and off Bishop's Bridge Road.

Paddington Station opened 1st of October 1868 with trains going to Gloucester Road in South Kensington, London SW7.

Crossrail Station in Paddington

The main entrance is on Eastbourne Terrace.
• Station architect | Weston Williamson
• Engineer design | AECOM
• Main contractor | Costain Skanska JV
• Urban realm designers | Gillespies / URS /
Weston Williamson
• Station structure | Box
• Excavated material | 315,000T
• Depth below ground | 20m

Paddington Station has undergone the most significant transformation since the completion of the original building in 1853. Building on the design legacy of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the architect Matthew Digby Wyatt, the new station is a contemporary take on the original vision.

Built to the south of Brunel's iconic 19th Century station, directly below Eastbourne Terrace and Departures Road, the new station spans three levels with two entrances into the station via a new pedestrianised public realm. To ensure minimal impact on the Grade I listed station and other heritage buildings, a box-shaped underground structure was chosen.

A 90-metre clear opening - a unique feature for urban underground station design - will be covered by a dramatic steel and glass canopy eight metres above the ground that lets natural light flood down to the station platform. The open void will allow for natural air circulation through the station.

Printed onto the 120-metre-long canopy is a bespoke work of art by American artist Spencer Finch. The ‘Cloud Index' is a picture of the sky which appears to change according to the light, the direction of the sun and the time of day in the tradition of artists such as Constable and Turner.

As passengers descend into the station via lift or escalator, the station box is lined with flush-jointed brick, perforated in places for acoustic absorption. Other materials are equally durable: glass, bronze and anodised aluminium, plus the stainless steel of the common components such as the escalators.

At platform level, a series of eight flared elliptical columns, clad in bronze to head height at their base, carry the weight of the structure and dark, anodised ‘Lily pad' light fittings are embedded into concrete ceiling coffers.

The layout and structural elements have been set to the 10-foot imperial grid system to match Brunel's original Paddington station. Everything is scaled up or down from that module, which means that all the components of the new station make a coherent family of parts derived from Brunel's imperial measurements. Each element reflects the themes established by Digby Wyatt in the original station which, in turn, are based on Owen Jones' famous treatise The Grammar of Ornament.