Landscape design, and ideas about green infrastructure, has been integral in understanding the potential from the early stages. The 67 acre site has been transformed from a bleak post-industrial wasteland behind the termini of King’s Cross and St. Pancras, where drugs and prostitution were the most thriving activities, to one of the most vibrant districts with new homes, shops, offices, galleries, bars, restaurants, schools and a university. It even has a new postcode, N1C. Mixed-use ambitions are reflected by mixing varieties of people in a rich variety of spaces and places.
The master-plan incorporates 26 acres of streets, parks and squares. Heritage elements such as the canal, the railways and many important buildings, were sensitively worked into the proposal to lay the basis for creating a unique, exciting and successful area. At the heart is the new Granary Square, a centerpiece designed by Townshend Landscape Architects and one of the largest such urban spaces in Europe. There is sensitivity also to re-using existing elements such as the listed gas-holders, re-positioned and with new utility. Gas Holder Park flows down to the Regent’s Canal, the landscape culminating in the frame of Gas Holder No.8 where a new steel pavilion will overlook the water.
Credits as supplied:
Client: King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership
Master Plan Design Team: Allies and Morrison Architects, Porphyrios Associates, Townshend Landscape Architects
Granary Square Design: Townshend Landscape Architects
Fountain Designer: The Fountain Workshop Ltd
External Works Plot Designers: Applied Landscape Design, BD Landscape Architects, Dan Pearson Studio, Olin Landscape Architects, Speirs + Major, Tom Stuart-Smith Ltd, Townshend Landscape Architects
Plot Architects: Allies and Morrison Architects, Bennetts Associates, Bell Phillips Architects,Carmody Groake, David Chipperfield Architects, Eric Parry Architects, dRMM,Piercy & Co. Glenn Howells Architects, Maki and Associates, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Ltd, Mossessian Partners,Maccreanor Lavington Architects,David & Morley Architects, Niall McLaughlin Architects,Porphyrios Associates, PRP Architects, Stanton Williams Architects, Studio Downie Architects LLP, Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Cost Consultant/Project Manager: Davis Langdon, AECOM
Quantity Surveyor: Gardiner & Theobald
Contractors:BAM Construction, BAM Nuttall, Carillion plc, Global Generation, Kier Group
Landscape Contractors: Maylim Ltd, Miller Druck, The Fountain Workshop Limited, Willerby Landscapes
