 WORK to demolish one of the biggest eyesores in Liverpool will start within two months it was revealed yesterday. Liverpool City Council's planning committee yesterday granted permission for Concourse House and the shops currently masking the front of the Lime Street Station to be demolished. The arched gable end of the listed Victorian station building will be revealed, creating a new area of public realm, greatly improved pedestrian access to and from the station and better links to the city’s cultural quarter. Earlier this month the final tenants moved out of the shops, allowing detailed internal survey work to start. Once this has been completed, a “soft strip” will begin, removing all materials, including asbestos, from the shops and Concourse House. Demolition work will start in July and the 13-storey building is expected to be completely razed by January next year in time to start on the public realm work. English Partnerships aims to finish the whole project to re-landscape the land in front of the Victorian station in Spring 2010. James Holyoak, landscape architect of Glenn Howells of Birmingham, said: “The materials have been chosen to tie in with St George's Plateau – York stone and granite. “The scheme will give a new sense of arrival to the city, as soon as you come out of the main entrance you are greeted with a panorama of the city for the first time.” He said a lift capable of carrying 16 people from the station concourse to street level will also be installed – it is hoped in future the shaft will be lowered to the metro system. Florence Gersten of Save our City campaign said: “I welcome this scheme very much, we will not be sorry to see the demolition of Concourse House.” Planning committee chairman Cllr Dave Irving said he was “made up” to approve the scheme. The project is a partnership between English Partnerships, the city council, Network Rail and Merseytravel. There will be significantly improved direct access to the station, with gentle slopes which the designers say will avoid the steep hill of Skelhorne Street and the station side entrance and make the station much more easily accessible for everyone. The design also includes tree planting, using a raised stone planter with lime trees. | 
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