Exchange Square, Broadgate

Paul Lincoln visits London’s newest public space which has been created over the tracks at Liverpool Street Station.

In the City of London edition of the Guide to the Buildings of England, Nikolaus Pevsner describes Broadgate as: “The largest and most impressive private post-war development in the City. It proves that the voracious demands of commerce and technology can work in harness with generous and humane principles of planning.” 1 Despite this praise, Exchange Square used to be an exceptionally forlorn space built above the tracks behind Liverpool Street Station. Probably the least visited part of the Broadgate development, it acted as a forecourt to Exchange House, designed by SOM and completed in 1990. This building, which is distinguished by massive parabolic steel arches spanning the tracks leaving the station, is now complemented by a highly distinctive new landscape.

Commissioned by British Land, it demonstrates a commitment to bringing green infrastructure into the centre of London’s financial district. Gareth Roberts, Head of Development for Broadgate says: “Access to outdoor space and wellbeing are now more important than ever for individuals and our customers. This was at the centre of our vision for Exchange Square, hopefully making Broadgate a more welcoming place for the wider neighbourhood by providing new green space for people to relax and interact amongst a range of plants and biodiversity. Exchange Square is part of our public realm masterplan for Broadgate. Thinking about the development in this way has allowed us to create a successful mixed-use destination where each type of public space plays to its strengths, alongside everything we do and offer to create that sense of place; great transport links, high quality green space, bars and restaurants with open air terraces, retail, gyms, events, the very best sustainable workspace.”

The project, which opened in January of this year, has created one of the City of London largest green squares. Suspended above the tracks of Liverpool Street Station and enclosed by Exchange House and the station’s Grade II listed train shed, Exchange Square provides a new landscape that is planned to deliver biodiversity enhancement through significant planting and 420 sqm of green space across the 1.5-acre site.

The scheme was designed by DSDHA architects working with FFLO landscape architects. Deborah Saunt, director of DSDHA explained that this had previously been an ‘office park landscape’. Their objective was to create a place that would work seven days a week, a place that would become a piece of the city rather than part of an office estate.

The scheme has established a new mixed-use space designed to be attractive to visitors, local residents as well as workers in the offices that overlook the site. It is the last of four public spaces in Broadgate to be redesigned by DSDHA, alongside Broadgate Plaza, Broadgate Circle, and Finsbury Avenue Square. The designers identified five biomes, each with its own ecology and temperature. Much of the design is inspired by the railway station.

The park includes a water feature that encourages play, as well as informal activity spaces, quiet corners, and pathways working at a variety of scales. Saunt explains that the landscape is inspired by the East Anglian estuarine landscapes to which the trains from Liverpool Street depart, the pathways offer direct and winding routes around planting areas that have been thematically grouped to create distinctive environments throughout the topography of the space. DSDHA worked alongside FFLO landscape architects to create a landscape designed to improve biodiversity on the site all year-round, with 14,000 plants and over 140 different species.

Plan of Exchange Square

© DSDHA

View of Exchange Square from the within Liverpool Street Station

© Daniel Fisher

The employment of a gardener is an important aspect of the project. They will shortly have their own potting shed and greenhouse, and will encourage learning and growth of the site and community. The gardener will maintain the square, while also offering opportunities for discussion, enquiries and involvement from the wider public.

Many of the site’s design elements celebrate the history of the railways and its complex engineering. Such design elements include the use of cast metal along the boardwalk, inspired by the railway lines, and regular mist sprays, as a nod to historic steam trains, hydrating the plants. A natural amphitheatre in the centre of the square provides room for activities and temporary events, shaped by seating made from terrazzo stone. A retail unit has been placed underneath the elevated curved platform.

View over Exchange Square with Exchange House to the left showing the cafe in the distance

© Daniel Fisher

The City of London is going through a period of extraordinary development, most notably through the building of office towers of up to 63 floors. It is good to see that in at least some parts of this dense financial district, there is also a significant investment in new landscape.