Another fascinating redevelopment of old buildings north of Kings Cross, giving a new use for them in the 21st century.
Coal drops were a common feature of many railway yards in towns and cities, where coal was unloaded, sorted and forwarded for use locally by another form of transport. Here there were two long ranges, with the oldest on the right, and the more recent one on the left built to a different design. When in use the area would have been dirty with lots of coal dust in the air, but it now has a very different atmosphere.
These two Victorian coal drops sheds were used to receive coal from South Yorkshire and trans-ship it to narrowboats on the Regents Canal and to horse-drawn carts; they received 8 million tonnes a year. Coal was once the only form of energy available to heat and light the buildings of London, either directly or after having been converted to coal gas in the adjacent gas works. Later, coal use was challenged by electricity, and electricity prevailed – the coal drops were redundant and fell into decay. They were used as warehouse units; one was gutted by fire in 1985 and another used by Bagley's nightclub,which closed in 2007. The night clubs complemented a night life of easy drug access, raves and prostitution.
The recent restoration project called for the listed Victorian sheds to be converted into a new high-end shopping complex and privately owned public space. Architect Thomas Heatherwick took the two converging arcaded sheds and connected them with the "kissing roof". The two brick and wrought iron coal drops were designed at different times so were structurally different, but shared a common roof line. Heatherwick's scheme took the analogy of how a strip of paper can be twisted, and does the same to the slate roof finish. He uses the brick sheds as a base, and constructs the plastic form of the roof from steel tubing. The result is an additional glazed space, in the roof, two storeys high that adds 1,900 m2 of space, giving a total of 9,290 m2 shopping complex and privately owned public space.. The 35m wide roof adds no extra weight to the wall structures; it is supported on 54 steel columns that are embedded within the building. The slate used in the roof comes from the same seam in the same Welsh slate quarry as was used in the original roof.
This is another rather impressive transformation of part of industrial London. I think it works well. This part of the development opened on 26 October 2018.
