Old Street roundabout redevelopment update

Published on Nov 17, 2021

What’s happening at Old Street?

Since the end of the summer, we have seen the seasons change again and along with it, lots of progress and changes at Old Street junction. Recent months have seen changes to the temporary road layout, opening of the new Cowper Street entrance and other station access changes. In this update we want to show you what TFL have been doing and to let you know what is coming up as works progress toward completing the project next year.

Change to temporary road layout – Complete


A recent change to the temporary road layout was successfully completed over the August bank holiday weekend, taking the project into the penultimate phase. This milestone allowed TFL to commence a large amount of improvement works to the junction, including station access changes, work on the main station entrance, and starting work on new passenger lift to St Agnes Well.


Subway 2 (Cowper Street entrance) open

The new Cowper Street entrance opened to the public on 31 August 2021, providing access to the station from the south-east side of Old Street junction. In recent weeks TFL have progressed works to the new subway, including waterproofing the structure and completing paving works around the entrance. We think you’ll agree it looks great.

Subway 1 – closed
Subway 1 (northeast exit) has now been permanently closed. Customers requiring ramped access can use Subway 3 (southwest exit) which remains open. The stairs and ramp of the old subway entrance 1 will soon be filled in to enable construction of the new segregated cycle lanes.

Subway 4 stairs – open
Refurbishment work to the steps at Subway 4 is now complete. On 3 September 2021 the stairs were re-opened and the subway 4 ramp was permanently closed to allow for construction of the new passenger lift, which will provide access into the St Agnes Well subsurface retail concourse. The green line towards Moorfields Eye Hospital has been re-instated to its original alignment on the stairs.

What’s happening next at Old Street?

Construction of the new main station entrance

Over the last few months, TFL have been constructing the reinforced concrete substructure which will support the new main station entrance. The central column and supporting arms are complex shaped precast concrete elements which have been manufactured away from the Old Street site.

On the 15 November, the first pre-cast concrete element of the superstructure was delivered to site and carefully winched into its central position. The new entrance stairs was settled alongside it. Over the winter, the four supporting arms of the structure will be carefully mounted in preparation for the roof assembly.


Once completed, the new Main Station Entrance will become the focal point of the new public space created when we finally closed the north west arm of the roundabout in January 2021. You will likely see lots of visual changes in the area in the coming weeks and months. We look forward to sharing this with you in our next update.

Old Street roundabout: weekend closures of the Cowper Street entrance at Old Street Station from 03 – 13 December 2021


Working in close partnership with the London Boroughs of Islington and Hackney, TFL are continuing to work on the transformation of Old Street roundabout.


As part of our ongoing improvement works to Old Street station and junction, essential works need to be carried out to waterproof the new Cowper Street entrance structure. In order to create a safe working zone for both pedestrians and work site personnel, this will require the temporary closure of the Cowper Street entrance to pedestrians.

When is the work happening?


To mitigate impacts on station users, works will be carried out in a staged manner over two weekends as follows:


• From midnight on Friday 03 December until 05:00 on Monday 06 December


• From midnight on Friday 10 December until 05:00 on Monday 13 December


During this phase of work, Old Street station will continue to operate as normal and can be accessed via Subway 3 (southwest exit) or Subway 4 (northwest exit). Every effort will be made to carry out any noisy work during daytime hours.

Where this isn’t possible, TFL have agreed with Islington Council that work will continue during the night using sound barriers and other noise mitigation measures to limit any disturbance. While TFL have planned to complete the work within the timeframe above, they may need to cancel a date at short notice due to poor weather.

How do I find out more?
You can get in touch with TFL by emailing OldStreetroundabout@tfl.gov.uk. Our dedicated Public Liaison Officer can also be contacted by phone on 07971 123 700 or by email at ruth.curtis@morgansindall.com