King's Cross Masterplan

What is historically significant about King's Cross station and its environs?

King’s Cross Station, designed by Lewis Cubitt and opened in 1852, is one of the great monuments to the Victorian age of railway building. Architecturally, its double barrel vaulted trainshed and twin arched front elevation are a masterpiece of functional design. Historically, along with the other London termini, Kings Cross radically changed the capital and its relationship with the rest of England.

The redevelopment of the former railway lands at King’s Cross is one of the most important regeneration projects in the country. The heart of the development is the repair and conversion of the site’s many historic industrial buildings and structures.

The cast iron pipes were part of the original ventilation system for the building, feeding fresh air into the Eastern Range offices. Examples of this kind of ventilation system are now quite rare and the architect was content to retain a few sections of pipework within the roof space as an archaeological record of how the building once worked.

Retention of this pipework has not limited the refurbishment and upgrading of the Eastern Range to modern office standards.

Network Rail's overall plan is to refurbish the station and increase its capacity as part of the upgrade for the East Coast Route. The aim is to ensure that the station is fit for the 21st century and the substantial increase in passenger numbers which are predicted.

English Heritage is an enthusiastic supporter of Network Rail's aspirations for Kings Cross Station. We helped draw up the overall strategy for the station's development before an architect was appointed, and look forward to it having a secure future as a major London terminus.

Not at all. English Heritage has been an enthusiastic supporter of Network Rail's proposals for change from the very beginning. What the film did not capture is our agreement to a major new concourse on the estern side of the station that took place long before filming started.

The filming coincided with a period where some conservation dilemmas were being resolved.

Disappointingly, the film-makers focussed on two areas of detail without setting them in the overall context of the project, where the architect, Network Rail and English Heritage have agreed on the vast majority of issues through constructive discussion and team working.

The booking hall is part of the original station, albeit damaged by WWII bombing, rather than the new Western Concourse. Our reservations were that the historic character and fabric of the booking hall would be lost behind new cladding and finishes. Our wish is to see a modern, efficient booking hall which is demonstrably part of the historic station, rather than the new extension, but upgraded to meet current passenger requirements.

The LED screens would cover the front elevations of the two office wings to the Granary. Whilst in some conditions the screens would appear translucent, in others they would appear opaque. We do not think that historic buildings, particularly principal, prominent elevations, should be covered in this way.

We also think the potential mis-use of such screens for commercial advertising should be avoided.

We believe the that a more appropriate response would be the introduction of free standing screens facing onto Granary Square which would allow the University to display student work without obscuring the historic building.

The footbridge was installed in 1890 to provide passengers with direct access to the platforms from the booking hall. Although a later addition, the structure is an interesting and attractive part of the station. Together with the architect, we looked at all possible options for its retention and reuse. Unfortunately, necessary alterations to provide safe, level, passenger access from the new Western Concourse to the platforms would have left the bridge unrecognisable as an historic structure.

Instead the decision was taken to carefully dismantle the bridge and place it in secure storage until a new use and location can be found. Listed building consent was granted for removal of the bridge on condition that Network Rail try to find a new site for its re-erection and the company are doing so.

In addition to the new western concourse, the existing Victorian station will be refurbished to a high standard. The bridge will be an important part of the station and it too, should be of a high design quality.

As originally shown, the bridge was carried on large steel columns which made the whole structure appear heavy and clumsy. The engineers have now agreed that these columns can be significantly reduced in size without compromising stability or safety. Although the design is not yet finalised, we are confident that this change will allow the architects to produce an elegant structure which sits comfortably within the historic trainshed.

English Heritage works with developers and architects on a daily basis. We enjoy a constructive relationship with all those developers and architects who are willing to engage in a process that will see change to the historic built environment managed sensitively. Our approach is to adopt an early collaborative dialogue with partners

At Kings Cross, we have a good relationship with Argent, Network Rail and the architects.

Bringing people’s attention to the important details of a scheme contributes to its overall success rather than hinders it. English Heritage has enthusiastically supported the overall scheme at King’s Cross and the benefits which it will bring since the project was first proposed by Network Rail. We do, however, believe that it is the detail that makes the difference between a good scheme and an outstanding scheme - the transformation of St Pancras into London’s Eurostar terminal is an excellent example of where attention to detail has been to the undeniable benefit of the scheme.