The St Pancras Hospital site

NEW homes and an upgrading of St Pancras Hospital are two key selling points for a new plan set to be unveiled this week.

The new scheme will replace a previous design due to what the developers – the team who own the King’s Cross estate and the NHS’s North London Foundation Trust (NLFT) – say are different market conditions to when discussions first began three years ago.

The updated masterplan will see more housing – rising from 110 to 180, with 40 per cent earmarked as affordable, tweaked layouts for public spaces and a proposed 21-storey life sciences block redesigned to be offices.

King’s Cross Group CEO Leo Shapland said the masterplan would now be put out for consultation, adding: “Our plans have evolved and we need to look at what works logistically, financially, and is best for the borough.”

The previous plan would have seen a new block built with a community offering and NHS HQ. Instead, the south wing will be restored and used by the NHS.

The project is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of pounds to complete, creating a place for 4,000 jobs.

Mr Shapland said the main Victorian blocks would be re-used for small and medium businesses.

He said: “We know it is better to retain and re-use older buildings and our task has been to consider how we can retain the heritage.”

King’s Cross Group CEO Leo Schapland with NLT’s Philip Bratt

Mr Shapland said the King’s Cross estate had attracted a “plethora” of small- and medium-sized businesses – not just the headline-hitting tenants such as Google, Meta, Sony and Universal.

He said: “There is more demand than there is supply. That means jobs are being held up. It means the council does not get the business rates. We need these buildings to come forward to help London be affordable.”

And the closed-in nature of the grounds is another area to tackle. He said: “People have told us already they want the site to be more open and inviting. A key element is to open it up.”

This will include a better through-route to Camley Street and the Regent’s Canal, and linking the site to the King’s Cross estate, which includes Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard.

Mr Shapland said: “The public realm element will be around the size of 24 tennis courts. We want to replicate what is good about King’s Cross and give the place some identity. It can provide a space for people who are going to the Oriel eye hospital, visiting people or using the NHS facilities on site.”

One issue neighbours raised was the idea of a 21-storey life sciences block, which critics said would be overbearing and lead to light pollution.

While the tower will remain the same height, it will now be marketed for office use, added Mr Shapland.

New designs, being drawn up by architects AHMM, will see instead of a rectangular block, a tweaked footprint to make it more interesting.

Mr Shapland added: “I do not think there’s too much life science space in King’s Cross but there has been a bit of a slowdown from occupiers. We are investing and taking the risk and we feel a commercial office is more suitable. There is a scarcity issue and that is why renting is so expensive.”

He added:“We are cautiously optimistic and developing commercial space is good for business and good for the borough.”

NLFT’s Philip Britt told the New Journal that the updated scheme would provide better healthcare services.

He said: “We will retain the use of the south wing to include in patient beds, mental health services and a service for veterans. The infrastructure needs to be replaced and separated from the rest of the site. It needs to be reconfigured inside and its external appearance sorted out – replacing the windows, fixing up the brickwork.”

Two smaller heritage buildings are set to be demolished but Mr Shapland said he hoped there could be a possible buyer to remove them brick by brick and rebuild them elsewhere.