Coal Drops Yard

The latest piece in the mammoth jigsaw that is the redevelopment of King's Cross slotted into place with the opening of the Thomas Heatherwick designed Coal Drops Yard in October. The studio has sympathetically connected two (almost) parallel 19th century coal storage buildings sat atop railway viaducts – whose lives served London's power production, glass manufacturing and latterly the capital's 90s clubbers as Bagley's nightclub – with a sweeping new roof extension decked with 80,000 Welsh slate tiles. The result is a glass-fronted lookout elevated over a canyon-like a cobbled plaza. Samsung will open a flagship store in the new fused interior but otherwise retail is refreshingly refrained to smaller, independent and bespoke retailers within the ambience of original brickwork and rich cast iron columns.   

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