4 Pancras Square

The Argent development at King’s Cross is one of the most significant recent developments in London. The site is located to the north of the existing King’s Cross railway station, adjacent to St Pancras International Station on brownfield land formerly used for railway yards and gas containers.

The building consists of ten storeys of office above ground, office reception and retail at ground and lower ground floor, with two levels of basement. A vierendeel frame at the first floor allow the transfer of structure to widely spaced ground floor columns that opens up the ground floor for the main entrance to the building reception.

The materials of the façade are weathering steel and white glazed ceramic for the horizontal brise soleil shading. The expressed steel as a structure recalls the heroic engineering of the industrial revolution and the railways that enabled the expansion of London. The glazed ceramic was the material that in the 19C and early modernism architecture was used in response to the dirtier environment of the European cities of these times. The natural patination of the steel absorbs light in contrast to the glazed surface of the ceramic that reflects light.

4 Pancras Square was the first UK office building to be awarded BREEAM 2014 ‘Outstanding’ accreditation. It consumes 65% less gas and electricity than a typical office building of its scale. The ecology of the site was improved through the introduction of a large moorland roof garden incorporating 37 mainly indigenous plant species and a number of large ponds.