Monday 19 Dec 2011
MAJOR CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE ON KING'S CROSS WESTERN CONCOURSE
- Region & Route:
- | Wales & Western: Western
- | Wales & Western
Over 600 people – from engineers, electricians and builders to carpenters, stone masons and abseilers – who are working to transform King’s Cross station got into the festive spirit today to celebrate the end of major construction work on the new western concourse.
The new concourse is the stand-out feature of the £500m redevelopment of King’s Cross to make it into a world-class transport hub. The striking domed roof covers an area three-times the size of the existing concourse and big enough to fit over six Olympic-sized swimming pools. As well as providing a brighter, more spacious station, it will contain a wide range of new food and drink outlets and shops, plus improved facilities which will improve the journey experience for passengers.
Ian Fry, Network Rail’s King’s Cross project director, said: “Today marks an important milestone in the redevelopment of King’s Cross station. With the major construction completed on schedule we can focus on fitting out the retail units and installing the new passenger facilities so passengers can take full advantage of their new station when it opens in next year.”
Work to build the Western concourse, which started in 2009, involved up to 1,150 people on site at any one time and included the installation of:
- 1,000 tonnes of steel
- 5,000,000 ceramic tiles
- 500 lights
- 1,000,000 specially made heritage bricks to restore and rebuild WW2 bomb damage and the ticket office
- 9,000m2 of granite floor tiles
- 5,000,000 metres of cabling
Notes to editors
About the King’s Cross redevelopment
- The majority of the station redevelopment will be completed by 2012 in time for the Olympics with the transformation complete by 2013.
- Once completed, 50m passengers will use the new station each year, 10m more than today. An additional platform, increasing reliability and capacity at the station, will be built.
- The new station will include integrated transport links with international and domestic services from St Pancras and the London Underground.
- The Grade 1 listed façade will be restored to its former glory by demolishing the current single-storey extension to the station.
- Work to create a new open piazza in front of the station, larger than Leicester Square, will start following the Olympics and will be complete in 2013.
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