Grimshaw's Waterloo International to stand empty

Grimshaw Architects' iconic international terminal at Waterloo Station will be unused for more than a year, Network Rail has admitted.

The Eurostar will vacate its south London home to start a new life in the newly renovated £800 million St Pancras Station on 14 November, but it will take another 12 months before domestic services leave from Grimshaw's building.

A Network Rail spokesman said: 'Grimshaw designed a bespoke building for a bespoke service. Eurostar trains are 400m long and you can't fix the platforms to be fit for purpose for domestic services overnight.

'The Department for Transport has taken ownership of the site and for the time being Eurostar will continue to manage the site, until it is passed over to us.' 

According to Network Rail, a great deal of work needs to take place to enable domestic trains to run on the platforms as small details, such as the Eurostar train doors being different from normal commuter trains, mean the platforms have to altered.

Network Rail also touched on future plans for the station, which will include the station concourse being lowered to street level, to allow the platforms to be extended into the existing concourse to allow for longer commuter trains.