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All change at King's Cross

The face of King's Cross is to be transformed by a futuristic £400million makeover. The dingy entrance to the station will be swept away and replaced by a new concourse and continental-style piazza. Click on the pictures below to see the architects' vision. [large images, open in new window]

[LARGER IMAGE] [LARGER IMAGE] [LARGER IMAGE] [LARGER IMAGE] Aerial St Pancras Aerial Eust StPanc Aerial Euston Rd Southern Entrance

At the centre of the facelift is the northern ticket hall, which the government had threatened to block because of rising costs. But ministers have agreed to fund the plan after being convinced by an independent report.

The report said the ticket hall had to be built to cater for the 50million travellers expected to use King's Cross every year when the Channel Tunnel Rail Link is built.

Bill Lehm, vice-chairman of the King's Cross development forum, said: "Everybody has been praying that it would happen. It will be a huge help to the area.

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"I doubt very much whether, without the ticket hall, the south side of the regeneration of King's Cross could go ahead at all, so for lots of reasons we are pleased to see it is happening.

"We will get rid of that mess in front of the station, that 70s carbuncle. We'll be pleased to see the back of that."

The development will be part of the £2billion regeneration of King's Cross - the largest building project in Europe.

As well as the new ticket hall for the Northern, Victoria and Piccadilly lines, a raft of improvements will be made to King's Cross station. These include a 3,000sq metre concourse, restoration of the Grade I-listed station facade and an open piazza in front of the station that will be larger than Leicester Square.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "I welcome this announcement from the government to fund the northern ticket hall at King's Cross and St Pancras Underground station. This is good news in terms of providing additional capacity for passengers using the station.

"In the week that the International Olympic Committee is visiting London it also represents good news for the London 2012 Olympic bid."

Iain Coucher, deputy chief executive of Network Rail, said: "The passenger is the winner here as the station will be transformed by this much needed investment.

"The expansion plans will create a world-class transport hub. We are excited by this news and look forward to working with the DfT and London Underground to develop the plans further and then taking it through planning and listed building consent with the support of the London Borough of Camden."

The work is due to start in 2007 and will finish before 2012.

andrew.brightwell@hamhigh.co.uk