Coal Drops Yard

Coal Drops Yard is a shopping complex and privately owned public space that forms part of the King's Cross Central development scheme in London, England.

[3] The Eastern Coal Drops was sold in 1876 to the glass bottle manufacturer, Bagley, Wild and Company.

They were founded in 1871 in Knottingley, Yorkshire, specifically as it was close to the railway, so they could easily move their goods to London.

Disused warehouses were used to stage illegal raves, a form of partying fuelled by high repetitive beat House Music and the illicit drug ecstasy.

The scene developed and spawned several legal clubs such as The Fridge, The Clink, Shoom and Heaven and by the early-to-mid 1990s incorporated three iconic venues in King's Cross.

Following the granting of a full music licence the venue in the arches reopened as the iconic 'The Cross'.

At the southern end of the Eastern Coal Drops building 'Bagley's' opened which took over three floors, and was later renamed as 'Canvas', and survived on and off till 2008.

Both the global financial crisis of 2008 (which caused a recession) and the ban on smoking indoors were blamed, [7] as well as the general redevelopment plans for the entire site.

[8] Argent Group, the overall developer for the King's Cross Central site, appointed Thomas Heatherwick as architect for the redevelopment of the Coal Drop Yards as a retail park in 2014.

[2][9][10] The £100m project called for the listed Victorian sheds to be converted into a new high-end, 9,290 sq metre, shopping complex and privately owned public space.

[1] The two brick and wrought iron coal drops were designed at different times so were structurally different, but shared a common roof line.

Heatherwick's scheme takes the analogy of how a strip of paper can be twisted, and does the same to the slate roof finish.

The 35m wide roof adds no extra weight to the wall structures; it is supported on a 54 steel columns that are embedded within the building.