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Emma Crowe
Nabil Hanafi
London Communications Agency
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14 August 2007 - Back

Argent unveils first new building for King's Cross CentralArgent unveils first new building for King's Cross Central

  • Winning architect Niall McLaughlin Architects to design first new building at Kings Cross Central
  • Mixed use building to include affordable housing, leisure uses and energy centre


Developer Argent (King’s Cross) Limited has announced Niall McLaughlin Architects as the winner of the inaugural design competition for one of the first new buildings at Kings Cross Central.

Five practices took part in the competition to design the building known as T1 which will be a mixed use, 350,000 sq ft building and one of the first to be constructed as part of the 67 acre regeneration scheme.

The site is located immediately to the north of the Regent’s Canal and adjacent to the rail tracks of High Speed 1, thereby setting a variety of contextual challenges to the designers. These include the proposed energy centre which presents demanding technical requirements and the presence of the listed gas holder guide frames which call for a very sensitive response.

The winning practice was selected both because of the quality of their design and as it was felt that the practice had demonstrated a real appetite for getting to grips with technical aspects of the project. This incorporated ‘knitting together’ a truly broad range of uses within the building, including:

  • Residential units
  • An energy centre which will house both Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant and a Primary Sub-Station (PSS)
  • A multi storey car park
  • A health and fitness centre
  • A bar / restaurant
  • Retail space
  • A multi use games area


The competition was run in a collaborative and iterative manner by Argent with a series of review sessions and technical workshops throughout the month long process with each of the participating practices.

Director at Argent (King’s Cross) Ltd, Robert Evans, said:

"We wanted to find an excellent concept architect who could respond imaginatively to challenging and complex site requirements. We got five very different but equally high quality responses back from the competition which we ran in a very interactive way to ensure that everyone fully understood the brief.

"We chose Niall McLaughlin Architects because we felt that they best understood what we are aspiring to, and we are looking forward to working together with them to deliver this exciting scheme

A Reserved Matters application for this building will be submitted at the beginning of next year.

For more information contact Lara Thornton or Lara Correia, London Communications Agency, on 020 7612 8480.