London’s King’s Cross has an incredibly rich history stretching back to Roman times. In recent decades, the area has undergone a stunning urban transformation.
Price & Myers have been involved in a number of projects with Argent at King’s Cross including the Civic Trust Award-winning Granary Square Pavilion – the gateway to Coal Drop’s Yard.
Our first significant project at the site involved work to what is now known as The Coal Office and Wharf Road Arches – the renovation of 26 historic railway arches and the five Victorian buildings above, dating back to the 19th Century.
The five Victorian buildings forming The Coal Office suffered from an extensive fire in the 1990s and the building was in a serious state of disrepair. We worked closely with David Morley Architects to turn the dilapidated building into high quality retail and workspace.
Following the successful works at The Coal Office, we were appointed to work with Bell Phillips Architects to design the building opposite, known as the Granary Square Pavilion. The single storey building is partly sunken into a sloping area of the site, connecting the lower level of Thomas Heatherwick’s Coal Drop’s Yard to the upper level of Granary Square. The pavilion offers retail space, public toilets and a public access lift. The structure is a simple insitu reinforced concrete frame, with an exposed visual concrete soffit. To help create a sense of lightness across the glazed elevations, small rectangular hollow steel sections were used in lieu of the larger equivalent concrete columns. A decorative cast iron balustrade runs the perimeter of the new pavilion roof, with the pattern replicated in the building’s cladding. The geometry of the balustrade spindles are inspired by the molecular structure of coal paying tribute to the site’s industrial heritage.
Granary Square Pavilion is one of only 24 projects to have been recognised with a National Civic Trust Award in 2021. The pavilion encourages visitors to explore the King’s Cross site and creates a beautiful entrance to Coal Drop’s Yard.
Completed 2019.
