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22 Handyside Street is a three-storey office building at the eastern edge of London’s King’s Cross development. Its sharply pitched roof and finely patterned aluminium screens are not decorative gestures added to a simple plan: they are the visible result of designing around listed gasworks tunnels, a sloping site, tight setbacks and a demanding structural grid. Coffey Architects’ team coordinated those constraints through a building information model (BIM), producing what Building reported in February 2021 as a gateway building beside York Way. The project demonstrates how heritage infrastructure below ground can determine columns, roof geometry, facade alignment and even the choice of structural materials above it.
What is 22 Handyside Street?
22 Handyside Street is a three-storey office building on the eastern edge of the King’s Cross redevelopment in London. Building describes it as a gateway building beside York Way, marking one of the major approaches to the wider scheme. The feature says the King’s Cross development covers about 30 hectares, placing this relatively compact building in a prominent urban position rather than treating it as an isolated office block.
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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Coffey Architects won the commission in 2016, according to Building’s February 2021 project feature. The reported project value was £18 million and the reported floor area was 3,463 square metres. Those figures come from the trade publication and have not been independently confirmed here. The building’s identity comes from the way its roof, facade and plan all respond to constraints beneath and around the site.
Why did the old gasworks tunnels dictate the structure?
Listed gasworks tunnels run beneath the sloping plot. Building reports that the brick crowns of the tunnels were as close as about three metres below ground. Because the tunnels are listed, the team could not simply excavate, remove or pierce them wherever a conventional office grid would normally place foundations and columns.
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The tunnel routes therefore became an organising datum for the building. Columns were positioned parallel to the tunnels and, where possible, in the spaces between them. That approach reduced the risk of loading the historic brick structures directly while preserving a workable arrangement for office floors above. It also meant that the structural grid could not be adjusted independently of the site’s underground heritage.
Weight was another direct consequence. The shallow tunnel crowns and sloping ground made a lightweight superstructure desirable. Building says the team selected concrete and steel for their relative lightness in this design and rejected cross-laminated timber (CLT) because it would have been too heavy for the ceiling heights the architects wanted. “Lightweight” here describes the chosen solution in relation to the site and the alternatives considered, not a claim that the building is lightweight by a universal engineering standard.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsHow did the team turn a restricted grid into the unusual roof?
The roof is a diagonal, pitched form laid across the tunnel-driven structural grid. It was not a free-form shape that could be moved later without consequences. Small changes to the angle of the grid or to the perimeter altered several alignments at once, including the point where the roof meets the corner of the building.
Phil Coffey, founding director of Coffey Architects, explained the dependency to Building: “If the angle of the grid is amended or the angles of the perimeter are amended, then nothing lines up.” He also described the result as “not whimsical: it’s really tight.” Those comments capture the engineering character of the architecture: the apparent irregularity is the visible outcome of multiple lines being made to coincide.
A BIM model was critical to resolving that geometry, Building reports. The model allowed the design and delivery teams to coordinate the roof, perimeter, facade screens and structural members as a connected system. On a conventional orthogonal plan, moving a perimeter wall a small amount might affect one elevation. At 22 Handyside Street, the same move could alter the roof edge, the corner meeting point, screen modules and the relationship to the tunnels below.
The team also tested a flat-roof option during the design process. The expressed pitched roof was retained because it made the constraints legible and gave the building a distinctive profile without requiring another storey. The top floor’s reported ceiling height of 6.5 metres created enough volume for the roof to become an interior and exterior architectural element rather than a shallow cap.
How did the perimeter setbacks change the plan?
The underground constraints were only one part of the geometry. Along the eastern edge, the perimeter is cinched in beside a sports hall designed by Bennetts Associates. Building says this narrowing helps form a piece of public realm, so the setback serves an urban purpose as well as accommodating the site.
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At York Way, a chamfered corner widens the pavement. That apparently simple pedestrian improvement affected the plan’s angles and therefore the roof alignment. The chamfer, the sports-hall setback and the tunnel-parallel column lines had to be resolved together. The result is a building whose public edge, structural grid and roof cannot be separated into independent design decisions.
This is why the project is useful as a case study in constrained construction. The perimeter is not merely an envelope wrapped around a pre-set structure. It is one of the inputs that determines where the structure can go and how the roof can terminate. The public realm benefits are consequently tied to the same geometric logic that protects the tunnels.
Why were concrete and steel chosen instead of CLT?
Building reports that the team considered CLT but rejected it as too heavy for the desired ceiling heights. The selected concrete-and-steel solution provided the relative lightness needed over the tunnels while supporting the large volume at the top floor. The decision illustrates a practical trade-off: a material often associated with low-carbon construction is not automatically suitable when an existing underground structure imposes strict load limits and the brief calls for unusually tall spaces.
The 6.5-metre top-floor ceiling was especially important. It allowed the architects to create an expressive pitched roof within the existing three-storey envelope, rather than adding a fourth level to obtain the same sense of volume. Avoiding another storey helped preserve the building’s massing while making the roof a usable spatial device.
Material selection was therefore linked to geometry, heritage and planning at once. The team needed a frame that was light enough for the tunnels, stiff and buildable enough for the diagonal roof, and capable of delivering the required clear height. The available data does not provide embodied-carbon figures or comparative structural calculations, so the choice should not be presented as a universal verdict on concrete, steel or CLT.
What is the facade made from?
The roof and external screens use CNC-cut anodised aluminium, according to Building. The screens project from the facade and combine solid, glazed and translucent panels. Their perforation patterns and panel types vary across the elevations, creating a changing field of light and shadow rather than a single repeated curtain-wall treatment.
Building reports that the screens were designed to help manage heat loss and future solar gain. They also shape daylight and shadow inside the offices. Coffey described the resulting effect to the publication as “my modern flock wallpaper of light.” The quotation is a description of the intended visual atmosphere, not a measured post-occupancy result.
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The facade strategy had to remain coordinated with the roof and the perimeter angles. CNC fabrication suits a design in which individual panels may vary, but it also makes accurate digital coordination essential: a change to the underlying geometry can affect panel dimensions, support positions, glazing boundaries and installation sequences. The available data does not establish maintenance intervals, replacement costs or measured energy performance, so those should be treated as open project-specific questions rather than inferred benefits.
Building says the completed project achieved a BREEAM Outstanding rating. That rating is the sustainability assessment reported by the feature; the available source does not provide a category-by-category score or independent operational data. It is therefore most accurate to connect the rating to the project’s assessed design and construction performance, not to claim that the screens alone produced it.
How were the roof, facade and structure coordinated?
The project’s interdependence is easiest to understand as a chain of decisions:
- Map the tunnels. The listed gasworks routes and their shallow brick crowns established areas where foundations and columns had to be avoided or carefully positioned.
- Set the structural grid. Columns were arranged parallel to the tunnels and between them where possible, creating a non-standard grid for the office floors.
- Fix the perimeter moves. The eastern cinch beside the sports hall and the York Way chamfer established public-realm improvements but changed the plan angles.
- Test the roof geometry. The diagonal pitched roof was laid across that grid, with its corner meeting point acting as a sensitive alignment check.
- Coordinate the envelope in BIM. Roof members, screen supports, glazed and translucent panels, and the structural frame were developed as one model so that changes could be traced through the system.
- Fabricate the aluminium accurately. CNC-cut anodised panels translated the controlled digital geometry into varied facade components.
This sequence is not a claim that the work proceeded in a perfectly linear order; design development typically loops between structure, envelope and planning. It shows instead why BIM mattered here. With so many dependent angles, a drawing-by-drawing workflow would make clashes and misalignments harder to detect before fabrication.
Who designed and built 22 Handyside Street?
Building identifies King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership as the client. Coffey Architects was the concept architect and Stride Treglown the delivery architect. BAM was the contractor, with Arup as structural engineer.
The wider consultant team named in the feature included E3 as M&E consultant, Faithful+Gould as quantity surveyor, FMDC as facade consultant, Fire Surgery as fire consultant and David Eagle as CDM consultant. Building reports that BAM replaced Carillion in 2018 after Carillion went bust during the project. That change is part of the project’s delivery history, but the available source does not provide a detailed programme or cost impact from the substitution.
The split between concept and delivery architects is significant on a geometrically demanding project. Coffey Architects developed the architectural idea and its constrained geometry, while Stride Treglown carried the design through delivery coordination. Arup’s structural input linked the tunnel restrictions to the grid and material strategy, and the facade and services consultants had to work within the same tightly controlled envelope.
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What can other constrained-site projects learn?
Start with what cannot move. Heritage tunnels, utilities, rail infrastructure and protected trees should be mapped before a notional grid is adopted. Treating them as late-stage obstacles usually forces expensive redesign.
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Make the grid an architectural decision. At 22 Handyside Street, the tunnel-parallel column arrangement shaped the roof and the facade. A structural grid chosen only for repetitive efficiency would have conflicted with the site’s protected fabric.
Use height strategically. The reported 6.5-metre top-floor ceiling allowed the roof to express itself without adding a storey. On tight urban sites, section design can create character and usable volume more effectively than increasing footprint or height.
Model dependencies, not just objects. BIM was valuable because it showed how changing one angle affected many others. The model should be treated as a coordination environment for decisions, tolerances and fabrication data, not merely as a three-dimensional presentation.
Connect public-realm moves to technical logic. The York Way chamfer and the eastern setback improved pedestrian space while becoming part of the roof and plan geometry. When civic improvements and structural constraints are resolved together, neither has to be treated as an afterthought.
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State evidence limits clearly. The available Building feature reports the BREEAM Outstanding rating, material choices and design intentions, but not post-occupancy energy data, maintenance costs or measured wellbeing outcomes. Those distinctions matter when a visually expressive facade is used as an example for future projects.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why does the building look irregular rather than conventional?
Its irregular appearance is the cumulative result of several fixed conditions: tunnel-aligned columns, a sloping plot, a chamfered York Way corner, a setback beside the sports hall and a diagonal pitched roof. The geometry is controlled rather than arbitrary. As Coffey told Building, “It’s not whimsical: it’s really tight.”
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The project’s significance lies in making those constraints visible. Instead of hiding the structural and urban compromises behind a flat roof and regular facade, the design turns them into the building’s principal architectural expression. The result is a gateway office whose identity comes from coordination: below-ground heritage determines the grid, the grid determines the roof, and the roof and setbacks determine the envelope seen from the street.
Frequently asked questions
Where exactly is 22 Handyside Street?
It stands beside York Way at the eastern edge of the King’s Cross development in London. Building characterises it as a gateway building, so its role is both an office address and a marker at a prominent approach to the wider regeneration area.
How close are the gasworks tunnels to the surface?
Building reports that the brick crowns of the listed tunnels are as close as about three metres below ground. That shallow depth made ordinary column and foundation placement unsuitable in parts of the plot and is why the structural grid was aligned with the tunnel routes.
Why was a flat roof not used?
The team considered a flat-roof option, but the expressed pitched roof was retained to work with the constrained geometry and to give the building a strong gateway profile. The high top-floor volume made that roof possible without adding another storey.
Does the BREEAM Outstanding rating prove the screens reduce energy use?
No single conclusion about operational energy can be drawn from the rating or from the screen design alone. Building says the screens were intended to influence heat loss, future solar gain and daylight, while the feature reports the overall BREEAM Outstanding assessment; it does not publish post-occupancy measurements.
Who took over construction after Carillion?
Building reports that BAM replaced Carillion in 2018 after Carillion went bust during the project. The feature identifies BAM as the contractor but does not give a full account of how the change affected the programme or final cost.
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What is the reported size and value of 22 Handyside Street?
Building’s February 2021 feature reports 3,463 square metres of area and an £18 million project value. Both figures are publication-reported numbers rather than independently verified measurements in this article.
What kind of panels are used on the facade?
The external screens use CNC-cut anodised aluminium with a mix of solid, glazed and translucent panels. Their varied perforations were intended to modulate light and shadow as well as address heat loss and future solar gain.
Which consultants worked on the project?
The project team listed by Building includes E3 for mechanical and electrical services, Faithful+Gould for quantity surveying, FMDC for facade design, Fire Surgery for fire consultancy and David Eagle for CDM consultancy. Arup served as structural engineer.
What does the roof’s 6.5-metre ceiling height achieve?
The reported 6.5-metre top-floor ceiling gives the pitched roof enough internal volume to read as architecture rather than a shallow enclosure. It allowed the team to create a dramatic section while keeping the building to three storeys.
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