A London-based architecture firm with a strong global portfolio has released a bold concept to overhaul the Brisbane Central Station, stripping back its ageing metal canopy to create a light-filled, open-air gateway to the city, with the aim of completing a first stage before the 2032 Olympic Games.
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John McAslan + Partners, the practice behind the transformation of King’s Cross and Bond Street stations in London, Belfast Central Station in Ireland, and the redevelopment of New York’s Penn Station, has put forward a vision to transform Brisbane’s Central Station ahead of the 2032 Games.
Concept imagery shows a sweeping open concourse crowned by a soaring transparent canopy supported by curved timber-look beams, flanked by lush greenery and opening up views toward Anzac Square. It is a far cry from the current station, which the firm’s founder and executive chairman John McAslan described publicly as drab, dated and ill-suited to a city on the verge of hosting the world.
Mr McAslan visited Brisbane to inspect the station in person and attend a roundtable with representatives from state and local officials alongside private developers, all gathered to discuss how the proposal might be advanced within the Olympic timeframe.
The firm’s position is that the work required is less about wholesale demolition and more about stripping away decades of accumulated clutter. The existing concourse structure would largely remain, with the current metal roof removed and replaced with a far more appealing atrium-style covering. The goal, as McAslan has outlined it, is to create a space where people actually want to spend time rather than rush through.
The firm has flagged a staged approach. The first phase, which it believes is achievable before the 2032 Games, would focus on that decluttering and re-roofing of the concourse, with the firm noting that around a million visitors are expected to come through Central Station during the Games. A second stage would then look at breathing new life into the station’s heritage fabric.
The proposal arrives at a busy moment in Brisbane’s infrastructure conversation. Roma Street has been widely promoted as the city’s future grand central station once Cross River Rail comes online, and Albert Street Station will add another CBD stop to the network once Cross River Rail is completed. But John McAslan + Partners director Troy Uleman argued that Central Station cannot be left behind in all of this, given it will remain the primary city stop for the Airport train link.
Mr Uleman suggested Brisbane has an opportunity to use the Olympic moment to catalyse lasting change to its urban fabric, and described the level of interest from government and private sector representatives at the roundtable as encouraging.
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The proposal remains at concept stage, with no formal commitments from Queensland or Brisbane officials reported at this stage.
For commuters who have long navigated the station’s concourse, the prospect of sunlight, greenery and open views toward Anzac Square, as the firm’s concept envisions, may be reason enough to pay attention.
Published 13-May-2026
