King's Cross - Human City
The Built Environment Professionals Chapter has been created to support LSBU alumni who have studied or are currently working within the Built Environment. The new Chapter is hosting its first event, in conjunction with Argent LLP, on the 23 October 2014 for its members.
To book your place and organise your free membership to the Built Environment Professionals Chapter, please contact the Alumni Office on alumni@lsbu.ac.uk or 020 7815 6712.
The King's Cross project is one of the most significant regeneration and development programmes in Europe. The 67 acre site includes an astounding 50 new buildings, 2,000 new homes, 20 new streets, 10 new public squares and 45,000 people who live, work and study in the area. This exciting event gives you a unique opportunity to listen to three major players within the King's Cross development, each presenting the development from different, but overlapping perspectives.
- First, Nick Searl from the developer Argent will introduce the development and will summarise current progress, current activities and future plans.
- Second, Graham Morrison from Allies + Morrison, one of the master planners of King’s Cross, will talk through some of the planning history, the thinking behind the master plan and how the outline planning permission works.
- And third, Simon Alford from architects AHMM is the architect for Google’s new UK headquarters at King’s Cross and he will talk through the issues of designing a major new office building within the development and particularly how the new building engages the public spaces and the wider city around it.
Programme
6.00 – Welcome drinks
6.30 – Introduction by Carl Kitchiner, Built Environment Professionals Chapter committee member
6.35 – Nick Searl, LSBU alumnus and Partner at Argent LLP
6.50 – Simon Allford, Director at AHMM
7.05 – Graham Morrison, Partner at Allies + Morrison
7.20 – Q&A
7.45 – Networking over drinks and canapés
8.30 – Close
Location
Argent, 4 Stable Street, London N1C 4AB
View map
Speaker Biographies
Nick Searl
Having joined in January 2008, Nick is a Partner of Argent LLP. His main priority is leading the commercial teams at King’s Cross who deal with the definition, strategy, leasing and management of the office and retail components. He is also closely involved with the wider branding and promotion of King’s Cross.
At a corporate level, Nick is involved in securing new development opportunities for Argent and is jointly responsible for marketing and promoting the business.
Before joining Argent, Nick worked with Chelsfield and European Land at Paddington Basin where he delivered The Point and Waterside buildings for M&S and Orange respectively and was also the development manager for the 1.8 million sq ft Merchant Square development.
Graham Morrison
Graham Morrison is a founding partner of Allies and Morrison. The practice now in its 30th year has won 37 RIBA awards and was responsible for the restoration of the Royal Festival Hall. It worked on a number of London's recent major masterplans including the 2012 Olympics Games site, Wood Wharf and Kings Cross and is now working in ten countries. Graham has taught architecture and was a visiting professor at Nottingham. He is a design review panelist and was a member of CABE. And he is currently a Commissioner of English Heritage.
Simon Allford
From AHMM’s base in London Simon leads a studio that works in London and internationally, engaging public and private clients in the exploration of a particular architecture’s potential to offer delight as well as utility.
Simon works on a wide range of scales and typologies. Recent projects include Stratford residential master plan, The Angel, Tea and Yellow Buildings as well as Adelaide Wharf, the Saatchi Gallery and Chobham Academy.
He is currently working on the new Google HQ at KX, The White Collar Factory at City Road, a new tower 240 Blackfriars, three mixed use projects on Regent Street for the Crown Estate, an academic building for the University of Amsterdam as well as large urban scale projects in London and America.
Simon is Chairman of the Architecture Foundation, a trustee of the Architecture Association Foundation, a visiting professor at The Bartlett and GSD Harvard. He was recently Vice President for Education at the RIBA and a Chair of Design Review at CABE.
Simon engages in the broader architectural discussion as a writer, critic, teacher, judge of competitions, frequent lecturer, examiner, advisor and commentator.
Special thanks
We would like to thank Argent LLP for hosting this event on their premises. We would also like to thank all three speakers for donating their time to enable this event to take place.
