King's Cross R8

Located between Handyside Street and York Way on the eastern side of the King's Cross Masterplan, R8 is one of the final commercial buildings of scale to be delivered at King's Cross.

The project consists of a mixed-use hub, offering 72 affordable socially rented residential apartments and a range of workspace, meeting rooms and event spaces designed to support local businesses and residents in the area and beyond.

Comprised of two eleven-storey buildings, one dedicated to residential and the other, workspace, atop of a two-storey small business hub which connects the buildings at lower level in addition to a ground floor retail unit and garden at podium level.

Several contextual conditions informed the scheme's massing, layout and facade design. These include Network Rail tunnels to the northeast of the site, which limited the weight of the scheme; connecting the building to the variety of building uses within the masterplan and beyond; a pocket park to the west of the site; and providing a gateway into the masterplan via York Way.

Therefore, the resulting design is like a piece of infrastructure, refined and robust. The office building's facade gently curves to cradle the adjacent pocket park whilst inside, a large efficient floor plate can accommodate a flexible range of workspace. Small Business and Voluntary Sector spaces are envisaged for the ground and first floor, where the building will be most publicly accessible with an active frontage. Double height voids are introduced in the centre of the first floor floorplate to connect with the ground floor activity.

The residential building has a shallower massing which increases daylight within the apartments and minimises loading on the tunnels below. Its balconies echo the office facade curvature at a smaller domestic scale, creating a playful facade that defines the eastern edge of the masterplan and adds to the vibrant architectural language of the area.

A landscaped garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, on the podium level between the residential and office buildings will be accessible to both residents and office tenants.

Targeting BREEAM Outstanding, the project is currently under construction and is due to complete in 2024.