Image: TfL | Render of new South Kensington tube station entrance on Thurloe Street

First look: inside the radical £120 million revamp of South Kensington tube station

by · Time Out London

Millions upon millions of people visit the Science Museum, V&A and Natural History Museum each year. Handily, they’re all located next door to each other and are all served by the same station: South Kensington. Not so handily, that station has no step-free access and TfL reckons that more than 500,000 journeys a year haven’t been made to or from South Ken because of its accessibility issues. But it’s working to change that. 

The Grade II-listed station is due to undergo a major overhaul to make it accessible for wheelchair users, people with buggies and those with mobility needs. Now, that planned transformation has reached a significant milestone. Three years after it received planning permission, TfL has announced that it will award the design and build contract for the station to construction company Costain, meaning the scheme can now fully progress. 

Photograph: TfLRender of new platform at South Kensington Station

Improvements to South Kensington will include step-free access to the Circle, District and Piccadilly line platforms, to the ticket hall and to the subway that leads to the museums, via a new accessible station entrance on Thurloe Street. There will also be a new dedicated eastbound platform for the Circle and District lines, while heritage features across the hub will be restored. 

The station’s shopping arcade and adjoining Thurloe Street retail units will also get a makeover to provide 53 new homes, 35 percent of which will be affordable. Plus, a new four-storey building at the front of the hub, named the Bullnose, will have food and drink units on the ground floor and offices on the upper floors. 

Now that the contract has been awarded, work is expected to start before the end of this year. TfL hopes that the redevelopment – which is expected to cost more than £120 million – will be complete by 2031. 

ICYMI: The London Transport Museum will celebrate the Piccadilly line’s 120th birthday next month. 

Plus: This riverside London neighbourhood is getting three massive new £2 billion towers. 

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