Pancras Square, 2014
Last month Camden
Council took possession of a new office building containing a
“state-of-the-art
and sustainable” leisure centre, a relocated library, and other
welcome community facilities. The council estimates its 14 floor
tower, the construction of which was financed by selling off ageing
and unwanted parts of its property portfolio, will save it between
£2.5 million and £4.5 million a year in running costs.
5
Pancras Square sits in a corner of a major new development that has
transformed the once notorious area behind King's Cross station. Ed
Smith, writing in the New
Statesman, described the change as one “from derelict wasteland
to caffeinated utopia”. The place is buzzing with local office
workers, passing travellers, and students from Central St.Martins art
school in neighbouring Granary Square, built on part of the long
disused goods yard. There's even a canal running through the middle
to add that apparently essential waterside appeal.
I
well remember the “derelict wasteland”. Twenty-five years ago I
spent several weeks photographing it, and some of the people who
lived and worked in it, for an exhibition. I would hesitate to now
call it a “utopia”, but it is undoubtedly much improved.
Culross Buildings, 1989
So
what's not to like? Not a lot. I just have a slight resentment at
being regarded by my elected local authority as a 'customer' (top),
rather than a 'citizen' (even if that is my status in the rest of the
largely privately owned and managed development). And a nagging
feeling that the rough sleepers, short-life tenants and small
businesses that I photographed back then are not among those who have
benefited from all this. More pictures of the 'derelict wasteland' here. Caffeinated utopia to follow.
Young homeless man, Pancras Road, 1989
