Kings Place, York Way - Finishing touches

Got in super early today, so I thought I would take a quick peek at what's going on with Kings Place (just up the road from my office) and it looks like they are almost done with it, most notably you can now clearly see where they are going to attach the wave-like glass facade to the front of the building, it's certainly changed quite a bit since my last pics, really starting to look like a building, rather than a building site now... ;)

Kings Place, York Way - Basic Structure in place

Well, here we go, another update on the "Kings Place" building project on York Way in Islington/Kings Cross. It seems to have stopped growing vertically (for the time being, at least), and so we may now actually have a good idea what the basic structure of the finished product is going to look like...

If you look back at the last time I took a few shots (which was in August last year) you can see exactly how much they have achieved in that time (despite the fire that caused the whole area to close thanks to the risk of exploding gas tanks) I tried to take these couple of shots from roughly the same angles as before, so you can see the progress more clearly-

- Haha...Well, God bless the local permanent-marker-wielding youth...much improving the work of the local primary school with added "dumplings" (even on the vaguely male-looking pieces, transforming what were probably supposed to be mixing desks into what now looks like an oversized bra) -

- walked up to see the view from the bridge over the canal (looks like we have a layer to go on the wedding-cake bit at the end to top it off) and was approached by a guy in a suit who walked right up to me and said "May I ask, who are you working for?", turns out, he is the guy in charge of the whole project, so I introduced myself, told him about the blog (and how to find these entries and photos, although not too difficult with the power of Google)...

So, Mr Head of Construction (nice to meet you by the way), and anyone else interested, if you want to really go back in time, check out what used to be on the site (before they demolished it, and dug a huge hole)...1 minute's silence (quiet cry)... ;(

There is another blogger intermittently documenting the build, "at one remove", an artist who either lives or works hereabouts, I think it was he that mentioned that there was going to be an official photographer to document the work but they were cancelled for financial reasons, so I feel duty bound to catch a bit of the construction...just for histories sake... ;)

Brass studs in the pavement

There are literally hundreds of these things stuck in the pavements all around Kings Cross, they are about the size of an M&M, shiny brass and each one has a little serial number scrawled next to it (this one is somewhat faded)...anyone got any idea what they might be?

Google has come up a little light for me, the only clue being a Surrey county council document about defining boundaries for pavement cafes, but there really aren't that many in Kings Cross, in fact, only 3 places I can think of have any kind of outside seating...so what are they for?

Answers on an IP packet...

York Way accident

Whoops, looks like someone hit a lamp post in York Way overnight, leaving it at a bit of a crazy angle...the odd thing is, to do that you would imagine the vehicle in question must have been going quite fast, but the road (at that point) is a one-way street, in the wrong direction! And how did the thing next to it survive?

*Fink scratches his head*

(Previous crashes - bus crash (same road) and lorry crash (2 streets away) plus pictures of the aftermath)

Kings Place, York Way - Building continues

It seems almost as if over last weekend Kings Place has crept up so it's now visible through the glass ceiling in our offices (so not been put too far behind by the fire, I guess)...

...so I thought I had better post some updated pics (went out for a little photoshoot during my lunch break)...this is the view from York Way...

...and this is down Crinan Street...interestingly the office gossip network tells me the garage (just to the left on this shot, the one which used to have this mural on it) and the American Car Wash (with spooky animated maniquin outside) have been asked to quit by their landlords, so even more change for the area ahead perhaps...?

7/7 - One year on - Kings Cross - 2 minutes silence

Couldn't resist...

...but how else does one learn? Copy the pro... ;) This also answers one question from the last 2 minutes silence...no - they don't need to buy Big Macs (and neither did I... ;)

Lots and lots of people came, but only I recon about half as many as last time...for the actual 2 minutes I left McDonalds (which was full of people talking and eating) and crossed the road to join the patient throng...

Got pretty near the front but couldn't hear anything the guy said apart from "Thank you all very much" at the end of the 2 minutes...he was doing a quiet speech, but it was just too quiet for me...

Still, job done...

7/7 - One year on

Got to Kings Cross early so I could take a few snaps before work, and as expected it was a real media circus, rows of anchormen either having make-up applied/touched up or waiting patiently to deliver their scripted commentary...

...again from the traffic island (which means I was probably on 3 or 4 TV channels at this point), check out the satellite dish on the van on the right...

No anchormen here, so this footage was going to be cut into reports for later on...

Lots of police too...(as I was expecting)...

This guy was reading his report to someone over the phone "It began as a day like any other"...(not very original ;)

Using the photographers trick that I spotted during the 2 minutes silence last year, I climbed to the 2nd floor of the McDonalds on the corner and shot out the window (I think I counted 20 coppers in this shot!) -

- and a close up on the floral tribute...

I posted a lot on 7/7, made a lot of newspapers - mostly German, Brazillian and Dutch (strangely), traffic went through the roof (still get a lot of hits out of it) as I was practically all the news and pictures coming steadily out of Kings Cross at the time, doing my citizen journalist bit...anyway, if you want to read my thoughts as I typed them then you are best off starting at the bottom of the 7th - click here to set the wayback machine to July - and then reading up...lots of pictures/thoughts about what happened on the day (from my perspective)...

Office is back open!

Good news! The fire brigade have announced that the gas cylinders are now safe! So as of 10am today the office will be back open (once a further safety inspection of the premises is completed by our facilities dept, of course)...

Unfortunately I've missed rush hour now, out here in the country everything rather slows down after about 0830hrs, I checked the timetables anyway (bus and rail, as I need both) and if I set off right now I might *just* get to Kings Cross in time for lunch, so I'm better off staying put...back to London tomorrow...

Kings Place - Further update

...and I quote from my office official briefing - "Having obtained a further update from the London fire brigade, we can confirm that the London offices will almost certainly remain closed all day tomorrow. The gas cylinders remain too hot to begin cooling by water at this stage, and it is expected to take up to 24 hours from the point at which water cooling can commence before they can be removed"...

Astonishing! So that's probably Friday before we can get back to our desks! Glad I didn't leave any ripe fruit on my PC!

Accidents do happen, but we will be lucky if someone's neck isn't on the line after all this...

Kings Place - update

Incredible, just came down from brushing my teeth to watch the traffic and travel on the BBC and they say the fire is still raging and Kings Cross is still closed! Guess I'll be working from here again then...! Lucky I have lots of documentation in dire need of updates...

Update from the press - "We are constantly monitoring the situation, and are working with London Fire Brigade to establish when it will be safe to re-open the station and resume services."A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Fires involving these types of cylinders cause major disruption in the capital on average once every month.
"Because of the risk of explosion, a 200 m exclusion zone is set up every time these cylinders are involved in a fire." - so there we go...back in the rat run tomorrow hopefully!

Fire, Evacuation and risk of Explosion - Kings Place, York Way, Kings Cross

Okay, safely home now, just grabbing some lunch...But just to cover what I do know again, at about ten o'clock today we were told by colleagues that there was a fire in the "Kings Place" building site and the offices were being evacuated...I didn't hang about...I just grabbed my bag, locked my PC and walked out of there (pictures to be had)...down at street level lots of policemen were busy blocking everything off and trying to get people to leave the area -

(Crinan Street, the building site is clearly visible at the end)

- diverting all the traffic away from York Way down towards the Caledonian Road via Wharfdale Road -

- which was slowly filling with emergency services vehicles...the only route I could think of that might not be blocked off by this stage was along the canal, so I trotted up the Caledonian Road, went down onto the tow path through the community garden and snuck along until this copper blocked my path, he was turning everyone away...

...so I retraced my steps about 20 yards and found a gate, this took me up to a little housing estate where I found another path into a garden about 2 meters above the tow path (much nearer) where I got this shot -

- but there was no further sign of incident, look closely though and you can see a number of cylinders which could be full of gas (which is why we all had to get out of there)...doesn't seem to be much in the news right now, but hopefully that's good news...would hate to think anyone was hurt or killed...

Update - The BBC has a shot of the fire (must be on the other side!) and news that Kings Cross station is closed (as well as our office and other local businesses)...(thanks to the annonymous commentator ;)

Update update - Looks like the rest of the press are slowly catching up with the news, one person went to hospital with severe burns, 630-odd people evacuated from Kings Cross station (which is shut), half of the 8th floor of Kings Place is "damaged" and depending on who you read, between 20 and 30 firefighters are on the scene...

Update update update - Hello nurture readers... (a link to this posting made it into our corporate blog ;)

Kings place - update

Well, just spoke to one of the contractors working on the site and he said they have all been sent home, so this is definitely a major incident...by the time I got back from the canal everyone from the office had vanished and police and emergency tape was everywhere, so I'm going to pack up and work from home...no point in standing on my own in the rain with police officers telling me to evacuate...more later when I get some news!

Kings place - update

Kings place - update
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

Okay, managed to get round via the canal, had to play dodge the coppers though, everywhere is sealed off, by tape, I overheard a witness telling of a loud explosion and flames on the top of one of the towers but it's looking clear now...gonna find somewhere dry now to wait it out...Took a few pics with the other camera for later... How exciting... ;)

Kings Place - on fire!

Kings Place - on fire!
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

We have all been evacuated! More later!

Kings Place, York Way - update

Snuck onto the building site a few days ago to see how they are getting on (last time I checked on them this was the scene)...and...it's a big hole! Funny to think that just on the other side of that wall is the canal! If that gave way you would have a lot of drowned builders....

...wonder how they are going to free the diggers of the hole when they are done...? ;) Or do they just entomb them in the concrete (kidding ;)...anyway, if you want to see what it's going to look like when it is finished you can check it out here, really amazing facade, glass like waves...it's still a long way off though!

The end of an era...

Well, it's the end of the line for the Waterside Inn, scene of many an average chain-pub meal, and merry pint in the sunshine, overlooking the canal museum...the bulldozer cometh to make room for the new Guardian Newspaper building...(they are going to have to dig a very big hole, as apparently there is going to be an underground concert hall, I wonder how they are going to stop the water getting in!)



In the background you can just about pick out some of the narrow boats and the start of the considerable amount of outside seating they had..no idea where we are going to go on sunny Friday lunchtimes now! Canal 125 is the only place I can think of with outside seating, and that gets rather cramped when there are more than 10 people...oh well, we'll find somewhere! I think Sahara nights has got a roof garden, might have to check that out... ;)

On the left here you can see the start of the warehouses next door, they are all coming down too (not that I care much about that!)...

Bus Crash... <:-0

This was the scene that greeted me and my close colleague "Torquay Slag" upon hearing a rumour whispering around the office that the road by Kings Cross station was closed due to a bus crash (this was back on the 24th of Jan). I think the picture merits a little commentary...in the foreground on the right you can pick out a number of policemen (I suppose between them and the firemen present there must have been about 20 members of the emergency services "attending the incident"). Not that there was a lot they could do - everyone was already off the bus (someone had helpfully built a pile of bricks by the bus door, which you may be able to see is around 2 feet off the floor thanks to the way the bus had lodged itself between the building and the pile of sand it's front wheels had very successfully mounted) and I don't think anyone fancied trying to shift it by hand...

The strangest thing,I suppose, about this scene is exactly how close this crash happened to the bus stop, the driver has basically managed to pick up his passengers, drive about 100 yards and then execute a 90 degree, right-hand turn into the wall...no other vehicles appear to have been involved...

Here is a close-up...no-one seemed to mind... ;)