Haptic Architects has completed a 1,500m² community building in King’s Cross with engineered timber façades and frame
The W3 building, on the edge of the huge regeneration scheme, is mixed-use and includes a café, gym and a crèche. Haptic said there will be space for local people to learn, exercise and socialise. Apartments with commercial units, leisure and amenity spaces are arranged around a new square.
The architects targeted a BREEAM Excellent rating and said the building has a low carbon footprint thanks to the sustainably sourced materials used to build it, passive design features, centralised energy supply and efficient building services.
Approved in 2019, W3 lies between two new green spaces, designed by Fabrik and Jan Kattein, and Haptic said the building had been ‘designed to integrate seamlessly with these’.
The ‘open and transparent’ ground floor has moveable screens and a concertina wall that opens onto gardens. The building also has a green roof, with bird and bat boxes to add to the area’s biodiversity. A total of 108 bike parking spaces have been included in the scheme, but no car parking.
The architects, who were chosen by client Related Argent to build the scheme in 2017, said W3 would ‘help to soften the boundary between the masterplan and the older neighbourhoods beyond’. Its layout resolves the challenges of an awkwardly shaped site bounded by a major road and three railways. The site straddles both Camden and Islington boroughs following the realignment of York Way to allow for new rail links into St Pancras.
The wider Zone W also includes 218 homes, in three blocks ranging in height from eight to 16 storeys, designed by the plot masterplanners David Morley Architects and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The wider zone, known as Author King’s Cross, is Related Argent’s first built-to-rent scheme. Each building has a different aesthetic and provides a mixture of one, two and three-bed flats.
The W3 scheme started on site in July 2022 and finished earlier this year after 16 months of construction work.
Project data
- Location 180 York Way, London N1C OAZ
- Local authority Camden and Islington (the site sits on the boundary line of both councils)
- Type of project Community hub
- Client Related Argent
- Funding Undisclosed
- Tender date End of 2021
- Start on site date July 2022
- Completion date January 2024
- Contract duration 16 months
- Gross internal floor area 1,500m²
- Form of contract Design and Build
- Annual CO2 emissions 508 kgCO2/m² (excluding sequestration)
- Construction cost Undisclosed
- Architect Haptic Architects
- Landscape architect Fabrik
- Planning consultant Related Argent (in house)
- Structural engineer Ramboll
- M&E consultant Hoare Lea
- Quantity surveyor Gardiner & Theobald
- Principal designer Midgard
- Lighting consultant 18 Degrees
- Facade consultant FMDC
- Main contractor Midgard
Environmental performance data
- Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >2% Not supplied (86% of the building benefits from natural light)
- Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >5% Not supplied
- On-site energy generation Not supplied (Building W3 will be served by the Kings Cross Campus low-carbon district energy system for all heating and hot water demand. PVs for W3 will reduce carbon emissions of the building by up to 44%)
- Annual mains water consumption (predicted) 14m³/occupant/year
- Airtightness at 50Pa 3m³/h.m²
- Heating and hot water load (primary energy use) 82kWh/m²/yr
- Overall area-weighted U-value 0.4 W/m²K (solid walls 0.2 W/m²K, glazing 1.4 W/m²K)
- Design life 120 years (structure), 60 years (façade)
- Whole-life carbon 648 kgCO2eq/m² (A-C, excluding sequestration), 333 kgCO2eq/m² (including sequestration)
- Annual CO2 emissions 7.57 kgCO2eq/m² (EPC as built)
- Energy rating A (11A)
BY KIT HEREN AND FRAN WILLIAMS. PHOTOGRAPHY BY HUFTON + CROW, SIMON KENNEDY
Source: Haptic completes timber-framed community hub in King’s Cross (architectsjournal.co.uk)
