Final steel tower for Pancras Square takes shape

Four Pancras Square, the final building on London’s Pancras Square development is under way and due for completion early next year.

The structure is an 11-storey commercial block offering Grade A office space with ground floor retail zones.

Creating a long column-free span for the entire main entrance elevation, the building features a steel exo-skeleton that wraps around the entire building. Project architect Eric Parry conceived this idea from gas holders that previously occupied the site.

The steel skeleton also forms the exterior of the entire building, supporting all of the internal floor slabs along each of the four elevations. The external steelwork and the floors are connected at key strategic locations that allow differential movements between the two to occur.

The main feature of the steelwork is a storey-high vierendeel truss that encircles the building at first floor level.

“The function of the steel truss is to create a 27m-long column free façade along the building’s main entrance elevation, that not only overlooks the public realm but forms an important architectural ‘open letterbox’ between the building and the outdoor area,” explains BAM Design Associate Mike Hayes.

Pancras Square is one of the main elements within the larger Kings Cross redevelopment programme, which has been described as one of the largest regeneration schemes in Europe.

The square consists of seven buildings arranged around a steel-framed wedge-shaped podium that accommodates a shared basement delivery space with the top level supporting a landscaped public realm.

Four of the surrounding buildings are either steel-framed or feature substantial structural steel elements, including Four Pancras Square.

Working on behalf of main contractor BAM Construction, Severfield will erect approximately 1,900t of steel for this project.