Case Study extracted from Salat, Serge. 2021. Integrated Guidelines for Sustainable Neighbourhood Design. Urban Morphology and Complex Systems Institute 2021. © UMCSII.

King’s Cross is a Central London mixed-use urban regeneration project on 22 ha. It is centred on a major multimodal transportation hub. A highly tailored scheme resulted from two master planning teams and four independent design review panels. It addressed the needs of many stakeholders. Planning had to reach a balance between the developer’s long-term goals of creating and managing a long-term asset and the local government’s desire to integrate it into the deprived communities surrounding the area through urban regeneration. The master plan unifies the site with a comprehensive vision, but it is adaptable enough to allow for changes. This adaptability will allow King’s Cross to respond to changes in social and technological trends. Development is not functionally locked into today’s requirements and technologies but has been given enough leeway to evolve in response to changing needs and market fluctuations. To balance this adaptability and maintain continuity, order in space, and identity, key physical aspects of the site were anchored. Streets and public spaces, the most resilient features of neighbourhoods, boosted the area development. 

Key Features

King’s Cross Central is a major interchange station at the scale of London, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The area presented a strong imbalance between its high connectivity and its urban quality, with underutilization and fragmentation of its 27 hectares. The programme is a mixed-use development, with an intensification of density and commercial activities near the station. 316,000 m2 of office space are close to 2,000 residential units (including 42% of affordable housing), 46,400 m2 of retail and leisure space, a hotel, and educational facilities. Some £2 billion were invested in local transport infrastructure and the public realm, comprising £250 million for 20 new streets, 10 new public spaces, and 5 major squares equalling 3.2 hectares. The urban regeneration supported the local people, with a programme of housing and community facilities. Planners required maintaining features of natural and historic importance to establish a neighbourhood with a distinct character, identity, and image. A well-structured series of gardens and new squares enhanced the site's attractiveness. The scheme involves restoration of historic buildings and new construction. It increases local connectivity, accessibility and permeability, with a dense pattern of streets. A new public realm of 10.5 ha fostered towering place value.  

To regenerate King’s Cross Central, the partnership has made a £250 million investment in public realm infrastructure since 2009. This has unlocked the 557,000 m2 of development in the project. The partnership’s equity funding went in priority towards the creation of the public realm. This featured 20 new streets and King’s Boulevard, new public spaces and Granary Square, a new bridge across Regent’s Canal, canal-side improvements, and the Energy Centre and its associated district heating and distribution networks. Also, the partnership entered a £100 million construction contract with Central Saint Martins – University of the Arts London for its campus (ULI, 2013).

In this reading, these aspects will be described: 

• Connecting the site and designing a movement framework

• Planning and creating value through place making and public realm high quality 

Key partners and actors

The King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership (KCCLP) is developing the mixed-use scheme. KCCLP is the collective name for the single landowner that comprises three groups: U.K. property developer Argent (owning 50% via Argent King’s Cross Limited Partnership); the U.K. state-owned London and Continental Railways Limited (LCR), holding a 36.5% interest; and DHL Supply Chain (formerly Exel), with a 13.5% stake.

Argent’s subsidiary, Argent King’s Cross Limited Partnership, is developer and asset manager at King’s Cross. It is backed by Argent LLP and Hermes Real Estate on behalf of the BT Pension Scheme. The development philosophy is holistic, with all the landowners working together within one overarching, shared vision. The stakeholders in the project have remained the same since 2001. The three principal contractors are BAM, Carillion, and Kier.

Connecting the site and designing a movement framework

Green and Thriving Neighbourhoods begin with understanding people patterns of motion. In a 15-minute city, these allow them to access their daily needs including recreation, heath, education, and enjoying green space. Sustainable urban form has more to do with movement through space than with a static vision of the city shape. Historic neighbourhoods demonstrate that long-established motion patterns are also often capable of responding to changing requirements.

People movement lines should connect internally the neighbourhood and link it to adjacent development. An integrated movement framework is a dense pattern of such activity lines for people, resources, and energy that make community life possible: roads, streets, footpaths and transit routes; and service utilities networks (water, gas, electricity, etc.). These linkages allow neighbourhoods to work and relate to the city. None of these systems exists isolated. Besides moving us and servicing buildings, they establish the neighbourhood character. As much as architecture or landscape, they help determine the quality of places. Whatever their function, the links are integral to the urban fabric. The measure of their sustainability is not only their functional performance, but also their contribution to the quality and character of an urban area. The design of links is key for creating a sense of place.

Permeability should not be confined within the development but should extend beyond its boundaries with continuities to wider city networks. To integrate the site into its environment, it is necessary to analyse existing entry points and linkages, both for movement and for infrastructure.

In King’s Cross, the redevelopment added twenty new connective streets. Their aim is to create a network of safe pedestrian routes and other linkages, to help join places together and integrate the development with existing neighbourhoods and communities in Camden and Islington.

Place Making and Planning the public realm

Two master planning teams and four independent design review panels led to a highly tailored scheme responding to multiple stakeholders’ needs. The master plan unifies the site with a comprehensive vision, but it is flexible enough to accommodate change. This flexibility will enable King’s Cross to adapt to changes in social and technological trends. Development is not functionally locked but has been left with enough margin to evolve with needs and market shifts. Planning is conceived more as a continuing process than as a once and for all exercise. It integrates changes in uses proportions and buildings’ transformation to respond to market evolution. 

The planning team ‘spent a lot of time thinking about the spaces between buildings, about how people would use those spaces’ (ULI, 2013). Some 40% of the development will be devoted to open space. Some built space will also include public spaces, such as courtyards and gardens. The design of King’s Cross connects people to people with a continuum of outdoor areas and sometimes large indoor areas, such as the west concourse at the King’s Cross Station. It encompasses streets, parks, squares, pedestrian areas, canal promenades, cycle paths, and trails as a continuum of linked spaces. They encourage different activities. A goal is to generate pedestrian movement and activity. King’s Cross illustrates how both high-quality design and long-term management strategies help establish a good public realm. The uninterrupted flow of spaces, routes, and views and the vibrancy of interactions within the public realm is supported by high-quality detailing. They create a rich and constantly changing information and activity field for pedestrians. 

Critical to the success of King’s Cross Central is the achievement of a legible, human centric and attractive public realm. The developer followed other London examples where the public realm is owned and managed privately but used by the public without restrictions. Argent St George balanced access and quality, and managed the space with the public in focus. Clear articulation between the public realm and the private domain is defined with built form rather than walls, fences, or planting. Where it was desirable to limit access or use to residents or employees, features such as rumble strips, different road surface (by colour or texture), pillars, and narrower carriageway, delimit the private space. They give the impression that the area beyond is less public and more private (EDAW et al. 2004). The public spaces at King’s Cross Central set out to achieve much more than just high-quality spaces and physical components. They are the long-lasting framework of spaces which would endure not just because of their physical quality but also because of their capacity to house activity, diversity, social exchange, and cultural enrichment. 

The new neighbourhood at King’s Cross is being built around a framework of leafy parks, squares, streets and pathways. This network of routes and green spaces is as important as the buildings themselves, and a whole 40% of the development is given over to open space for everyone to experience and enjoy. Today, the popularity of King’s Cross owes much to the success of the new public spaces. The events and activities bring them to life. Multiple uses and events create active streets and public spaces. Streets with retail stores, bars, cafes, and restaurants keep the neighbourhood lively throughout the day. All ground-floor units are, or will be, leased to these types of occupants. The approach goes beyond streets. It creates a network of safe pedestrian routes. They link key sites in the development and closely connect it with the surrounding communities in Camden and Islington. The site design includes a variety of promenades for various times and people, each with a different emphasis or theme. This set of strategies is aligned with the approach proposed by the shared vision on Green and Thriving Neighbourhoods. Below, are described in detail, some elements constituting the public realm. 

King’s Cross Station concourse: The Western Concourse is a shell-like roof of glass, steel, and aluminium that rises 20 meters above the ground at its highest point. The vast canopy splays out from a great steel funnel a few feet from the historic station’s western façade. Intersecting branches of steel spread downward, spanning out in a 74-meter radius from that central point. A ring of 16 supporting columns at the outer edge takes the load. With no supporting columns between, the Western Concourse is now the largest single-span structure in Europe. The visible façade of the historic station and the clear separation between the two structures make the Western Concourse a blend of inside and outside space, of brick heritage and steel contemporaneity. The shell-like space offers passengers a comfortable feeling of dynamic enclosure.

Station Square (Battle Bridge Place): Station Square is the hub between the two enhanced stations. It has high quality stone paving to unify the space between the stations and the German Gym.

King’s Boulevard: King’s Cross Boulevard is the primary route linking the two stations and Station Square to Granary Square and the northern parts of the site. With a mix of retail, the Boulevard is vibrant, catering to all those who live and work at King’s Cross and all who would visit. The Boulevard is mainly walkable. It is lined with trees on one side and different shops on the other side, with many urban features, high quality stone paving and a pattern referring to past railways.

Google UN Headquarters Terraced Roof Garden: Google headquarters in King’s Cross is a £1 billion building. It is a 300 m long ‘landscraper’ with a rooftop garden. It has space for more than 4,000 employees, a rooftop garden with a running track, and has been dubbed a ‘landscraper’ for being as long as a skyscraper is tall. A plan for the garden shows it is split into many different zones, and includes a 200-metre running trail. The roof will be covered in a 300-metre-long garden, divided into different zones, including a ‘pause area’ filled with wildflowers and woodland plants, a cafe, and a 200-metre ‘trim trail’ for runners. The garden is a multipurpose urban park. It comprises an amphitheatre and 200-metre ‘trim track’ for jogging and brisk strolls set against a variety of landscaped environments.

Pancras Square: Pancras Square with its cascading water feature is a place to take a break from the bustle of the city, or relax after a day's work. Pancras Square is a triangular space with a visible change in level. It slopes down toward its southern end, creating an accelerated perspective framing the landmark of the tower and clock. The change in level is used to considerable effect with terraces, high-quality stone paving, lawns and reflective water features stepping down toward the south. Benches are designed as an integral part from the terrace arrangement and as such are orientated to maximise potential views across the square and the south-facing aspect. In contrast with the formality of the stone terraces, a loose arrangement of trees provides shade all year.

Granary Square: Granary Square is the geographical heart and heritage soul of King’s Cross Central. With its 1,080 fountains, it is a busy London square and hosts a myriad of events throughout the year. Tiered stone seating and steps cascade from Granary Square to the canal enhancing the south-facing aspect and reinforcing the historic relationship of the canal and the Granary.

Regent’s Canal: The Regent’s Canal bisects King’s Cross Central forming part of the development. Steps and ramps encourage people to stroll and explore the Canal and experience closer contact with the boats, locks, basins, and wildlife. Terraces from Canary Square step down to the Canal while the two bridges offer great views.

Camley Street Natural Park: The green space of Camley Street Natural Park has been created within a relatively small space and expresses a unique fusion between central London density, rich industrial archaeology, green space and nature conservation. King’s Cross canal corridor is a series of interlocking public spaces along the Regent’s Canal. They extend through the historic core of the estate, connecting Maiden Lane Bridge at York Way to the east and the railway bridge accessing St Pancras Station to the west. The corridor integrates the estate with the Canal, enhancing both and knitting in with surrounding neighbourhoods and communities.

The Gasholder Park: The four iconic Gasholders at King’s Cross were built in the 1850s as part of Pancras Gasworks. The gasholders remained in use until the late 20th century and were finally decommissioned in 2000. The four listed Gasholders have been reassembled. The ‘Gasholders Triplet’ frames the canal side apartments. Steps and terraces swirl around the base of the Gasholders. They offer places for people to sit and watch the activity around the canal. The fourth Gasholder has been left open to accommodate planting, footpaths, seating areas and a mirroring work of art that plays with light and reflections. It is one of the most intriguing spaces at King’s Cross Central.

Lessons Learnt

The urban regeneration project in King’s Cross well displays the crucial role that the public realm plays in the creation of value on an economic and social level. The achievement of a legible, human-centric, and appealing public realm is critical to the success of King’s Cross Central. The project, constructed around a framework of parks, squares, streets, and pathways, creates a network of paths and green spaces that are as vital as the built environment itself. The production of high-quality public space can boost substantially the economic potential of the area, by attracting a diverse set of tenants, facilities, and activities. The complexity and size of the project required the collaboration of different stakeholders both to finance the investments and to develop a coherent master plan within which sub-designs could be harmoniously placed and related to one another. 

References

EDAW 2004. King’s Cross Central public realm strategy. Produced by Townshend Landscape Architects, General Public Agency, Access Design Consultants, for Argent St George, London & Continental Railways and Excel.

Suzuki, H., Murakami, J., Hong, Y.-H., and Tamayose, B. 2015. Financing Transit-Oriented Development with Land Values: Adapting Land Value Capture in Developing Countries. Urban Development Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0149-5. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO

ULI (Urban Land Institute) 2013. Intersections: Health and the Built Environment. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute