page_title: Flinders Street railway station
section_title: Redevelopment plans
hierarchical_section_title: Flinders Street railway station / History / Redevelopment plans
caption_attribution_description: Bahasa Indonesia: Bangunan dan pintu utama Stasiun kereta api Flinders Street, Melbourne
context_page_description: Flinders Street railway station is an historic building located on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1854, today it serves the entire metropolitan rail network, as well as some country services to eastern victoria. Backing onto the Yarra River in the heart of the city, the complex includes platforms and structures that stretch over more than two whole city blocks, from east of Swanston Street nearly to Market Street.
  Flinders Street is served by Metro's suburban services, and V/Line regional services to Gippsland. It is the busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with over 77,153 daily entries recorded in the 2017/18 fiscal year. It was the terminus of the first railway in Australia, was reputedly the world's busiest passenger station in the 1920s. The 708-metre platform 1+14+'milk dock' is Australia's longest, and the fourth longest railway platform in the world. Flinders Street Station is responsible for two of Melbourne's busiest pedestrian crossings, both across Flinders Street, including one of Melbourne's few pedestrian scrambles.
context_section_description: Plans arose at various times from the 1960s to the 1970s for the demolition or redevelopment of the station, as well as the adjacent Jolimont Yard area. The station had fallen into disrepair, having not been cleaned in decades, and covered with advertising hoardings and light up signs.
  
  In 1962, the Minister for Transport and HKJ Pty Ltd signed an agreement for a £30 million redevelopment of the station that would have resulted in the demolition of the clock tower and replacement with an office building up to 60 stories high. Work was to begin in 1964, but instead the Gas & Fuel Building was constructed over the Princes Bridge station. In 1967 a company purchased the option to lease the space above Flinders Street Station, planning to build a shopping plaza and two office towers, the dome and clock tower being kept as part of the design, but strong opposition saw this project lapse.
  In 1972, Victorian Premier Henry Bolte unveiled another redevelopment plan, to cover 27 acres (110,000 m²) of space above the Flinders Street Station and Jolimont Yard for a complex of shops, offices, theatres and other community facilities. A newspaper report of 1974 said that planning was still underway for the $250 million proposal, but by 1975, public perceptions had begun to turn towards retention of the station. A Builders Labourers Federation green ban at the time helped preserve it in its existing form. The controversy over these proposals led to a re-apprasial of the architecture and significance of the station, which had been seen as something of an oddity, or even simply as dirty and ugly, such that it was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) by 1976, and eventually listed on the state Heritage Register in 1982.
  In 1989, under the John Cain Government an agreement to construct the "Festival Marketplace" was signed. Designed by Daryl Jackson architects, it was to be built over the existing platforms in a style sympathetic to the existing station, and be completed by 1992. Planned to feature shops, restaurants and cafes, the project was abandoned in 1991 after the inability of the financiers to come up with the $205 million required due to the early 1990s recession.
  In November 2011, the Victorian Government launched a $1 million international design competition to rejuvenate and restore the station. In October 2012, after receiving 118 submissions, six finalists were selected. The public could vote and the jury's choice and people's choice winner were announced on 8 August 2013. The competition winner was Hassell + Herzog & de Meuron, while the people's choice winner were University of Melbourne students Eduardo Velasquez, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina. No funding was attached to the competition, and no major changes were undertaken.
caption: View showing the repainted facade of Flinders Street in softer colours, including expanded forecourt with new security bollards in May 2019
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