ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some historical background on the King’s Cross area to set the stage for Argent’s present development. It considers the area’s industrial heyday and traces regeneration attempts in the 1980s and the community opposition that these engendered. The chapter deals with an explanation of the process through which Argent St George was selected as the developer for the King’s Cross site. Historically, what is known as the King’s Cross area was the low-lying and marshy edge of the early City of London where the dispossessed lived and worked on the fringes of society. For the first half of the 20th century, King’s Cross continued to function as an unloved but essential part of the London economy. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link would run from Stratford under the existing North London Line and emerge from a tunnel at the north of the King’s Cross site onto an embankment leading to a new upper level terminus at St Pancras.
