Eurostar departures area facilities enhancement project completes at St Pancras

Chapman Taylor’s interim capacity enhancement solution for the Eurostar departures area at St Pancras International railway station, has completed and is in operation.

In 2016, Chapman Taylor undertook a review of the existing environment at St. Pancras and identified several areas for improvement. The analysis of the pinch-point model highlighted potential capacity issues at the Eurostar departure process.

As a result, Chapman Taylor prepared a masterplan which proposed a phased capacity enhancement scheme for the Eurostar Departures area. The SPICE (St Pancras International Capacity Enhancement) scheme looked at creating additional departures capacity in underused arrivals hall space.

Due to Eurostar’s immediate capacity needs, we proposed an interim solution, with an alternative entrance for departing passengers identified as a route from the international concourse to the arrivals hall, which could be used in conjunction with additional partitioning and base facilities to create supplementary departures space for about 450 passengers.

Chapman Taylor was appointed to take forward the design of SPICE interim project, with the objective of splitting the existing arrivals hall and creating a temporary departures facility within the space. The project comprises a series of glazed partitions and adjustments to the existing partition, a new search zone, a seating space, new toilet facilities and a small F&B area.

New elements have been carefully designed in cooperation with the HS1 Heritage Advisor and Historic England to provide aesthetic consistency with the rest of the station and to ensure that the historic fabric of this Grade I-listed building is treated in a respectful manner.

Chapman Taylor is now working on the permanent capacity enhancement solution for the Eurostar departures area.