When Britain’s HS2 high speed rail network was first announced in 2009 the regeneration of London’s Euston district was one of the biggest stories in the property news. Fifteen years later very little real progress has been made. However, recent news that the HS2 tunnel connection to Euston should finally go ahead has brought the area back into focus. Here we will look at what is happening now and what is proposed.
Plans for this area have been frustrated to some extent by the gradual scaling down of HS2. Once intended to connect London’s Euston Station with the Midlands, north west and Yorkshire only the section to Birmingham is now being built. At one point, due to funding issues, it looked like it would not even reach Euston. However, in the autumn 2024 Budget it was announced that the 4.5 mile bored tunnel to connect Euston to the network at Old Oak Common in the west London suburbs would now be funded.
Latest forecasts suggest that the HS2 line between Birmingham and Old Oak Common could open in the early 2030s. Work on the tunnel to Euston is likely to start in 2025 and it could open in the early 2040s.
Regardless of HS2 Euston Station is already one of London’s major rail termini. It offers national rail services to the Greater London area and major national destinations including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. There are also connections to the London Underground and Overground networks. Around 86,000 passengers per day pass through the station. Another proposal, which is currently on ice, could see Euston connected to Crossrail 2 – a new major rail link connecting north and south London.
Euston itself sits within the London Borough of Camden and the wider area is very much one of contrasts. It sits between central and suburban London. It comprises both high value residential and commercial property as well as some of London’s most deprived areas.
When looking at the potential for Euston regeneration, parallels might be drawn between Euston and the area around and to the north of King’s Cross Station around a mile to the east. Twenty years ago, this was an unattractive, run down and post-industrial area. Today the area has been redeveloped with educational, cultural and leisure uses, prestigious commercial space, attractive public realm and around 2,000 homes.