VICTORIAN SITE OPENED TO THE PUBLIC

Designed by Heatherwick Studio, Coal Drops Yard is a newly activated public space with a lively shopping district comprising close to 60 outlets sitting alongside a host of new restaurants, cafes and bars.

Dating back to the 1850s, the site originally centred around two brick railway buildings that were used to store coal brought in from northern England before being transported to London proper. In the ensuing years, the buildings were used as warehouses and nightclubs before being abandoned in the 1990s when the site was closed to public access and left to fall into ruin.

In 2016 construction began on the project, turning the former historical site into 9290sqm of vibrant retail and public space dominated by a unique roof design that celebrates the specific texture and history of the Victorian industrial site.

Tying the two building together, along with the viaducts on the site, the new roof structure extended the original gables, causing them to swoop up to meet in the centre of the buildings. This new design creates a readily recognisable architectural feature that gives the site its new identity and creates additional retail space, adding a third floor that didn’t previously exist, together with additional covered outdoor space.

"The design extends the inner gabled roofs of the warehouses to link the two viaducts and define the yard, as well as creating fluid patterns of circulation," says Heatherwick Studio. "The flowing roofs, supported by an entirely new and highly technical freestanding structure interlaced within the heritage fabric, rise up and stretch towards each other until they touch. This forms an entirely new floating upper story, a large covered outdoor space and a central focus for the entire site."

Designed with entrances at both ends of the site, Coal Drop Yards is fast becoming a distinctive site that contributes to the larger transformation taking place in the area. “It has been a huge privilege working on Coal Drops Yard,” notes Thomas Heatherwick. 

“These amazing Victorian structures were never originally built to be inhabited by hundreds of people, but instead formed part of the sealed-off infrastructure of London. After serving so many varied uses throughout the years, we’ve been excited by the opportunity to use our design thinking to finally open up the site, create new spaces and allow everyone to experience these rich and characterful buildings.”

Commissioned by King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership in 2014, the project is Heatherwick Studio’s first major building in London. “Our challenge was to radically remodel this Victorian infrastructure to meet the needs of a modern urban development without losing what made them special,” explains Lisa Finlay, group leader at Heatherwick Studio.

”To do this, we focused on understanding their original function and how they were adapted over time so we could appreciate how best to preserve and reuse the existing fabric, whilst also introducing new elements. One of which is an entirely freestanding new structure threaded through the historic buildings.”

Images Hufton + Crow and Luke Hayes