Tilbury Riverside Station
Thurrock, Essex
Back on Track
Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex. Its Riverside Station, located at the ferry station connecting Tilbury and Gravesend, is the largest on the Thames.
Designed by Sir Edwin Cooper, it was built in the 1920s to accommodate the increasing passenger numbers in the post-First World War period and became the centre of passenger operations in London. The building is most notable for being the docking location of the SS Empire Windrush in June 1948. As air travel became the long-distance preference, Tilbury terminal experienced a sharp decline in users and in 1992 the station was closed. It remains largely unaltered, though years of neglect left the building in a state of disrepair until recent reinstatement works.
In 2023 Hart McGregor were appointed by the Tilbury on the Thames Trust as architects, lead designers, lead consultants and specialist conservation architects for the Tilbury Riverside Railway Station Back on Track project. The trust has secured over £4.4 million in Stage 2 funding from NLHF, which will help revitalise the station.
Our proposals
include a full regeneration of the derelict station building, creating eight
studio lets for local artists, a café to offer a stop to thousands of
travellers, opening up the main ticket hall for community events and a
permanent exhibition space to explore the history of the town. The proposed design and interventions, sensitive and
compatible with the heritage values of the building, comprise:
- Reinstatement of the entrance canopy with new heritage double-glazed units, to form new café space, following the detail of the original roof and re-using the existing structure
- New glazed screen and door to the station’s former entrance, to enclose the café
- Alterations to secondary rooms within the former station’s support space to achieve lettable units for creative tenants
- Alterations to the former ticket office to create a new permanent exhibition area
- Modification to WCs and creation of accessible WC and changing facilities
- External masonry repairs and window replacement with double-glazed heritage metal-framed windows
- Reinstating two openings in the station’s rear elevation referring to the positions of the historic platform openings
- New hard and soft landscaping to areas surrounding the station and ancillary (TRAAC) building
- New vehicle crossover to create a new safe pedestrian access.
This station’s restoration initiative holds the potential to revitalise the town’s prospects, which have languished since its closure.
Consultants
Structural Engineering: Alan Baxter & Associates
Building Services Engineering: SVM
Heritage: Jon Lowe Heritage
Ecology: Ecology and Land Management
Flood Risk: Weetwood Services
Transport: Steer