Architecture award celebrates St Pancras redevelopment
Written: 2nd June, 2008
The multi-billion pound project to transform St Pancras station into a terminus for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link trains has been formally recognised with a major award from the Royal Institute of British Architects. The newly restored and extended grade l listed station scooped the RIBA London and English Heritage, Building in a Historic Context, accolade for 2008. The award, which seeks to celebrate a new building or an addition to a building that has worked particularly well within the historic context that encases it, is given to the highest quality architecture of the present day for the way that it forms part of, and contributes to, the continuity and history of its London context. Judges said the enormity of the challenge to transform a station that was for many years regarded as the poor relation to London's superior transport hubs was evident. They added that achieving the blend of providing a railway terminus of the highest standard while retaining the grandeur of the Gilbert Scott’s magnificent original design is what has set the station apart from other projects of comparable scale and ambition. Philip Davies, English Heritage's planning and development director for the south, said: "Without doubt, the renaissance of St Pancras is an outstanding achievement for which all those involved should feel incredibly proud. For too long, Scott's defining work was dismissed as posing only problems rather than possibilities – it is through the imaginative vision of London & Continental Railways that the potential for reincarnation has been realised." The creation of St Pancras International was made possible with the passing of the 1996 Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act, which enabled the construction of both the high speed line from the Kent coast to the capital and improved interchange between Underground and mainline services at King's Cross and St Pancras station. Design work taken forward by engineering consortium Rail Link Engineering, English Heritage and Camden Council underpinned the ten year construction period ahead of the station opening in November 2007. Davies added: "It is absolutely right that St Pancras has been recognised by RIBA and English Heritage believes that the success of this development clearly demonstrates the powerful contribution that heritage can make to economic and physical regeneration on an epic scale." The annual RIBA Awards are given for buildings that have high architectural standards and make a substantial contribution to the local environment. The awards have been held since 1966.