The new Western Concourse roof at King’s Cross Station, London, has been unveiled by Network Rail, John McAslan + Partners, Arup and Vinci.
After the station concourse is opened in 2012, the £400m redevelopment's sweeping new space, designed by John McAslan + Partners with Arup, will provide a fitting gateway to London.
“Creating this beautiful and elegant structural design for the new concourse roof was a collaborative process. We worked closely with the architects at every stage, sharing ideas to achieve our common goal – a landmark buidling that will last for decades.”
– John Turzynski, Arup director
When the new concourse is complete, the existing 1970s concourse will be removed – opening up the front of the station, as the original architect intended in 1852, and creating the largest new public square in London in recent years.
When the new concourse – the first part of the station’s transformation opens in March 2012 – the extensive, sympathetic redevelopment will be demonstrating the changes transforming an unloved, historic rail terminus into a dynamic transport interchange and a destination in its own right.
"The new concourse at King’s Cross represents not only represents a significant achievement in engineering and architecture, but will provide passengers with immediate, improvements from spring next year. It is an exceptional addition to a significant London landmark."
– Ian Fry, Network Rail project director
Creating the natural form for the elegant roof for the new concourse, while protecting the surrounding listed buildings posed a unique structural challenge for Arup engineers.
Arup is providing a range of services for the redevelopment of King’s Cross Station, from acting as lead consultant for the Eastern Range building, Western Range building and Western Concourse roof, to multi-disciplinary engineering services, transport planning including pedestrian modelling, lighting design, IT and acoustic consultancy, visualisation and multi-disciplinary engineering design for King’s Cross Square.
Arup has also played a key part in the recent King's Cross St Pancras underground station project.