King's Cross Central

King's Cross Central (KXC) is a multibillion-pound mixed-use place in the north-east of central London. The site is owned and controlled by the King's Cross Central Limited Partnership. It consists of approximately 67 acres (27 ha) of former railway lands to the north of King's Cross and St Pancras mainline railway stations. The site is largely determined by three boundaries: the existing East Coast Main Line railway leading out of King's Cross; York Way, a road marking the division between Camden and Islington boroughs; and the new railway line, High Speed 1 (HS1), formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, which curves around the site to the north and west.

The master planners for the development are Allies and Morrison, Demetri Porphyrios, and Townshend Landscape Architects. The overall developer is Argent LLP. Construction work is ongoing.

The area of what is today Kings Cross was farmland, intersected by York Way heading north leading to a bridge which crossed the River Fleet at Battlebridge. This name led to a tradition that this was the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Iceni tribe led by Boudica (also known as Boudicea), support by writings from the ancient Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus.

It was not until the development of New Road in 1765 (later to become Euston Road), that the development of Kings Cross began. Initially developed as terraced housing, with the opening of the Regents Canal in 1820 the area became industrialised. In 1824 the Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company developed a gas works south of the canal, which drew a number of other highly-polluting industries into the area.

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