King's Cross Square

[mattdickinson]

King's Cross Square is now open.

From the Standard:

London’s newest public square was officially opened today.

King’s Cross Square is the final part of the £550 million redevelopment of the station.

A new western concourse opened in March last year in time for the Olympics and the square is the latest stage in the regeneration of the King’s Cross area, which it is claimed has attracted £2.2 billion private investment to develop 60 acres into offices, shops and 2,000 homes

 

[johnnychips]

What's the circular structure near the road? (from photo on link)

 

[EM2]

What's the circular structure near the road? (from photo on link)

It will be a take-away kiosk for Giraffe.

 

[swt_passenger]

What's the circular structure near the road? (from photo on link)

It is an existing LU vent terminal with a new cladding, joined to the relatively new LU stairs alongside the road, and as a secondary function it has also provided for some retail space. The section of roof between the vent and the stairs was not part of the original plans, it was added later, IIRC there was a revised planning application for it.

There are three significant LU features on the surface altogether. The stainless steel 'egg' fire brigade intervention lift and emergency access, on the St Pancras side, (which was provided subsequent to the fire), has also been re-clad to try and reduce its impact. There's also another smaller vent structure by the SE corner of the main station frontage.

 

[tsr]

I visited the square today. It appears to have been well-used both today and yesterday, with plenty of potential for people to sit around, eat lunch, read, people-watch, you name it... but it's a pity they've had to clog it up with a load of fairground stuff so soon after it has opened. I appreciate promotional events may be needed, and know how hard it is to move that sort of stuff into position quickly, but the fenced-off areas were a little excessive - so not the best of impressions there. I am pleased to see there will be retail space with covered space out there, which should be handy for arriving customers (though the planning information had indeed already shown this). Also good were the new information signs, which incorporate digital screens, CCTV and signs pointing the way to various key services.

I will try to head back in a period of bad weather to see how it performs, and will also be interested in how the surfaces wear. Unfortunately, quite a bit of litter has already found its way into the gaps in the paving and the flowerbeds, so the cleaning regime will also be interesting to watch.

 

[edwin_m]

The Underground entrance in the SW corner (nearest to Camden town hall, with the roof referrred to above) was closed yesterday evening and appeared to be boarded up inside the glass. Presumably this will be re-opening at some stage, as it is shown in the artists impressions on the NR website. This would previously have been the stairs and lift down next to the newspaper kiosk just outside the old entrance to Kings Cross.

There is another Underground entrance a short distance further north which I guess used to be the direct access into the old Kings Cross concourse.

Old photos of Kings Cross show a fully-fledged Tube station sitting in the forecourt, which I expect would have been the site now occupied by the egg-shaped building and made use of lifts in what are now the intervention shafts.

 

[swt_passenger]

There is another Underground entrance a short distance further north which I guess used to be the direct access into the old Kings Cross concourse.

The entrance nearer Euston Rd, and the one you mention above are both relatively new, ie within the last few years. The former only opened with the new Euston Rd underpass, which was a part of the western (Met/Circle) ticket hall upgrade project, and the latter arrived with the new LU northern ticket hall link passageway. There also used to be another set of LU Stairs down from the old NR concourse into the tube ticket hall, that was pretty much in the middle of the old concourse. They were sited straight ahead when arriving from KX platforms 5-8 or so, but terribly cramped and unacceptable for modern passenger flows, that stair was closed permanently during the early stages of the tube ticket hall refit...

The original Piccadilly surface building was basically where the round vent shaft still is, I think the egg and its shafts were completely new. The photo here shows the old 'deep tube' building towards the right: http://www.rail-news.com/2010/09/01/kings-cross-reveals-face-from-the-past/

 

[causton]

They were sited straight ahead when arriving from KX platforms 5-8 or so, but terribly cramped and unacceptable for modern passenger flows, that stair was closed permanently during the early stages of the tube ticket hall refit...

Aha... was that the small walled section in the middle of the ticket hall next to where the benches were in the old Kings Cross concourse? If so, I remember those stairs being very narrow so just assumed it was staff access... and only ever remembered the "new" entrance which I assumed had been there a lot longer (then again, it does have a lift, so I guess not!)

It's really weird how those stairs used to lead inside and now lead outside... and how quickly this has all happened! It seems like just yesterday I was queueing up for my Burger King for a late night train back in the old concourse...!


Edit: Oh! Found a photo of it. Either my memory is playing up or they reduced the size of the hole after they closed that entrance. But yes, it does look tiny!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24759744@N02/3260972204/

 

[swt_passenger]

Edit: Oh! Found a photo of it. Either my memory is playing up or they reduced the size of the hole after they closed that entrance. But yes, it does look tiny!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24759744@N02/3260972204/

That's the one.

One of the problems I remember was that there was a right angle corner at the foot of the first flight of steps.

 

[sarahj]

That's the one.

One of the problems I remember was that there was a right angle corner at the foot of the first flight of steps.

And a sock shop right on the angle.

 

[pethadine82]

Does anyone know if the plastic cladding they have tact onto the entrance is going to be a permanent feature at Kings cross, the station would look beautiful without it.

Also what is the cylinder shaped object outside the exit on the Kings Cross square?

 

[swt_passenger]

Also what is the cylinder shaped object outside the exit on the Kings Cross square?

See my earlier post #4 replying to the exact same question in post #2 please...

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I've been impressed by the clean perpendicular lines which we can now see when looking across the square towards the station:-


[click to enlarge]

 

[jon0844]

Nice to see lights in operation for passing planes too.

 

[HowardGWR]

Does anyone know if the plastic cladding they have tact onto the entrance is going to be a permanent feature at Kings cross, the station would look beautiful without it.

I agree about the 'tacked on' shelter. If one wants to keep dry, can one not just go inside? Or is it a shelter for the buskers?

It detracts from the verticality and also breaks up the arches. Perhaps someone knows the reason for it.

 

[swt_passenger]

The passenger flow design, (much criticised in earlier threads here) leads all arriving passengers through the 'front' of the station, it was not originally intended that arrivals would have a route to the western concourse at all. So no, arrivals cannot 'just go inside'. People may recall that the gateline through the western range buildings, and the overbridge, were supposed to be one way routes into the train shed for departures only...

So the canopy depth was designed to avoid people causing congestion behind them by halting as soon as they reach the doorways during bad weather. It provides time for people unfamiliar with the overall area to remain under cover while they orientate themselves, and also provides a nearly fully undercover route to the intended main entrance to the tube, on the right hand side as viewed leaving the station.

There is quite a significant amount of background about this in the planning statements, it is actually commonplace at other places, not just stations, where foot traffic is 'stop start' and congestion would occur if people at the front stopped suddenly.

Before the rebuild it was discovered that the majority of arrivals did not go outside the station, they would head down to the tube via the front ticket hall. Research led to a belief that in bad weather people getting off trains at Kings Cross (and in fact most major termini) do not prepare themselves for immediately getting wet...

So that's the design reason.

Now we'll get all the amateur station designers explaining why they'd build something completely different...

 

[Deerfold]

Now we'll get all the amateur station designers explaining why they'd build something completely different...

Something I've mentioned before - and been misled by the people who were around at the station explaining about the changes when they started affecting the layout of the station is the ease of access for those arriving by bus from the South - these services stop alongside the former York Way entrance. It now takes an inordinantely long time to walk the width of the station, avoiding all the people coming out, making your way round the entrance to the tube into the main station and then all the way back again - in my case often to Platform 0.

I was told when I asked that the York Way entrance would be reopening towards the end of the works - I'm guessing that's unlikely as it no longer exists.

Of course you can get around this quite easily on the many occasions the gates are left open.

Within the station the layout seems to lead to flows of passengers crossing far more than it did before the changes - as all departure passengers have to cross streams of arriving passengers - previously people would be approaching the platforms without having to move to the left or right much.

 

[jon0844]

Aren't there still one or two gates set to entry near the platform 0 end even when the gates are in use?

 

[Deerfold]

Aren't there still one or two gates set to entry near the platform 0 end even when the gates are in use?

Sometimes.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The Underground entrance in the SW corner (nearest to Camden town hall, with the roof referrred to above) was closed yesterday evening and appeared to be boarded up inside the glass. Presumably this will be re-opening at some stage, as it is shown in the artists impressions on the NR website.

There's a notice at the foot of those stairs stating that they will not be open until November at the earliest due to unforeseen issues as well as theft of some materials.

 

[HowardGWR]

The passenger flow design, (much criticised in earlier threads here) leads all arriving passengers through the 'front' of the station, it was not originally intended that arrivals would have a route to the western concourse at all. So no, arrivals cannot 'just go inside'. People may recall that the gateline through the western range buildings, and the overbridge, were supposed to be one way routes into the train shed for departures only...

So the canopy depth was designed to avoid people causing congestion behind them by halting as soon as they reach the doorways during bad weather. It provides time for people unfamiliar with the overall area to remain under cover while they orientate themselves, and also provides a nearly fully undercover route to the intended main entrance to the tube, on the right hand side as viewed leaving the station.

There is quite a significant amount of background about this in the planning statements, it is actually commonplace at other places, not just stations, where foot traffic is 'stop start' and congestion would occur if people at the front stopped suddenly.

Before the rebuild it was discovered that the majority of arrivals did not go outside the station, they would head down to the tube via the front ticket hall. Research led to a belief that in bad weather people getting off trains at Kings Cross (and in fact most major termini) do not prepare themselves for immediately getting wet...

So that's the design reason.

Now we'll get all the amateur station designers explaining why they'd build something completely different...

It seems a pity that the awning was not put above the arches (if that was possible) as it looks like an afterthought and a clutter, which, with relation to Cubitt's design, it is possibly. It's just a comment on aesthetics.

Cubitt of course did not design a western concourse.

 

[Murph]

It seems a pity that the awning was not put above the arches (if that was possible) as it looks like an afterthought and a clutter, which, with relation to Cubitt's design, it is possibly. It's just a comment on aesthetics.

Cubitt of course did not design a western concourse.

Yes, there's a nice line across the building above the entrance arches. A minimal-bulk (e.g. engineered frameless glass, maybe with cable-stays going upwards to the 3 tower elements) canopy attached there would look better, fully exposing the original monumental building, I think.

 

[Old Hill Bank]

So this London station gets even more money thrown at it, we are so impressed in the provinces!

 

[jon0844]

The station needed to be upgraded to cope with the extra demand, and given the number of retail outlets both inside and soon to go outside, I expect it will actually make a fair bit of money too.

 

[Eagle]

So this London station gets even more money thrown at it, we are so impressed in the provinces!

Less money than Birmingham New Street is having thrown at it.

 

[HowardGWR]

Yes, there's a nice line across the building above the entrance arches. A minimal-bulk (e.g. engineered frameless glass, maybe with cable-stays going upwards to the 3 tower elements) canopy attached there would look better, fully exposing the original monumental building, I think.

That was what I had in mind, well thought up! It could even be glass-fronted, porte cochere style, to keep out those south westerlies. You wouldn't need the supports then. What's it like with the draughts in the square by the way?

 

[Hadders]

Aren't there still one or two gates set to entry near the platform 0 end even when the gates are in use?

I was at Kings Cross this afternoon and all the ticket barriers were in operation (even the ones upstairs). No gates near platform 0 were set to entry forcing a diversion into the western concourse to enter the station from York Way.

 

[yorksrob]

I must admit, given the intention was always to have passengers exit through the front of the station, I‘d have been tempted to keep the ‘green roofed‘ building as an arrivals concourse.

 

[NSE]

I was at Kings Cross this afternoon and all the ticket barriers were in operation (even the ones upstairs). No gates near platform 0 were set to entry forcing a diversion into the western concourse to enter the station from York Way.

Whereas I was there for the 13:15 to Cambridge and walked straight through an open barrier :P

 

[Hadders]

I got the 1650 departure. All barriers working then and manned by EC staff except by platforms 9-11 which was manned by FCC.