Plimsoll Building
Number/street name:
1 Handyside Street
Address line 2:
City:
London
Postcode:
N1C 4BQ
Architect:
David Morley Architects
Architect contact number:
Developer:
King's Cross Central Ltd.
Contractor:
Carillion
Planning Authority:
London Borough of Camden
Planning Reference:
2012/4741/P
Date of Completion:
Schedule of Accommodation:
42 x studio apartment, 71 x 1 bed apartment, 102 x 2 bed apartment, 40 x 3 bed apartment
Tenure Mix:
1, 2, 3 and 4 person apartments?
Total number of homes:
Site size (hectares):
0.37
Net Density (homes per hectare):
NDR 691?
Size of principal unit (sq m):
2 bed: 70?
Smallest Unit (sq m):
33
Largest unit (sq m):
169
No of parking spaces:
36
Scheme PDF Download
Planning History
The Kings Cross master plan was granted outline planning permission
(OPP) in December 2006. The Reserved Matters Application for The Plimsoll Building development was granted planning permission in
December 2012.
The Design Process
The building is conceived as a cluster of domestic scaled towers arranged around a central garden. The footprint extends to the edge of the site and clearly defines the adjacent streets. The school and community facilities occupy a two- storey plinth at the base of the building, where they will create an active frontage, with 11 storeys of residential accommodation above. The perimeter of the development is punctuated on the south - west corner to allow long views out across the Regent's Canal and to permit as much daylight and sunlight as possible to be brought into the heart of the site. The open corner accommodates, at ground level, the playground and outdoor learning spaces for the school. Brick and glass are the predominant materials used for the street facades, creating a robust exterior that responds to the visual grain of the surrounding area - inset perimeter balconies provide outdoor space whilst retaining privacy. The storey high, prefabricated, brick panels echo the colour and texture of the neighbouring Western Transit Shed and Coal Drops By contrast, the internal garden facing facades display a softer materiality created bv the use of white textured concrete cladding panels and lightweight suspended metal balconies, giving a calm and light reflecting background to the lush planting scheme. A central garden provides a focal point for the apartments above and contains roof lights which are integrated as sculptural features within the landscape design allowing daylight to flood into the circulation spaces of the deep plan school below. The garden is conceived as a three-dimensional oasis of greenery and extends to the full height of the building through a combination of trees, vertical climbing plants and informal planting on balconies. This will define a lush green theme to the development that links through to the proposed green setting of the adjacent gas holder structures, the green fringes of Regent's Canal, a nearby Nature Reserve and a new park. The theme of planting permeates throughout the scheme from the school playground at ground level, to a rooftop winter gardens which will terminate an axial vista looking along the main approach from Handyside Street.
