King's Cross Station redevelopment

King's Cross Station redevelopment
John McAslan + Partners for Network Rail
Contract £547m. GIA 31,254m²

Take one Grade 1 listed 19th century structure, restore it and turn it into a 21st century transport hub. Simple. And amazingly, it does look both simple and inevitable, but it was of course fiendishly complex, above and below ground. The work ranged from out-and-out conservation work – much of it all but invisible – to the showpiece new western concourse that allowed Lewis Cubitt’s train shed to be cleared of clutter and restored to glory. Lost spaces have been reclaimed and both old and new benefit from their adjacency. One can criticise certain details but as the judges said, overall it’s ‘an example of what can be achieved by a motivated and skilled team that has worked imaginatively with constraints to achieve an outstanding outcome’.