Destination station
St Pancras is so much more than just a terminus, says Commercial Director WENDY SPINKS
St Pancras International emerged from its £ 800 million redevelopment between 2004-2007 as much more than just a gateway for domestic and international travel.
In addition to its status as a main line station and its stunning Victorian architecture, there is an extraordinary array of retail, social and cultural attractions to be enjoyed by commuters and visitors alike.
From well-known high street retailers to a wide selection of places to eat and drink, St Pancras International has set a benchmark for how to enhance the passenger experience, and demonstrated how major stations can be destinations in their own right.
The formula has now been extended to several other major stations in the UK, including King’s Cross, Birmingham New Street and Euston, which have all had their concourse areas transformed within the last decade. The next will be London Bridge, which will be home to 80 retail units when its development is fully completed in spring 2018.
But despite these attempts to replicate the success of St Pancras International elsewhere on the network, the station is yet to be beaten in terms of passenger satisfaction levels and is consistently ranked top of the bi-annual National Rail Passenger Survey for Network Rail-managed stations (see panel).
And no other station comes close to matching its vibrant arts and cultural programme, which underpins the appeal of St Pancras International as a ‘destination station’.
Station owner HS1 Ltd has invested considerable time, energy and resources into promoting the station as a venue for a host of events taking place throughout the year.
Artworks range from the famous statue of Sir John Betjeman by Martin Jennings and Paul Day’s ‘Meeting Place’ statue ( known to many as ‘the Lovers’) on the upper level of the concourse, to Conrad Shawcross’s dramatic ‘Terrace Wires’ installation that was suspended high in the air from the roof of the trainshed in 2017.
The station’s close link with former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman is also celebrated by the annual Betjeman prize that aims to inspire the next generation of poets. It is sponsored by HS1 Ltd, St Pancras International and Eurostar, and regularly attracts more than 3,000 entrants.
For fans of live music, St Pancras International has hosted performances by some of world music’s biggest names, including John Legend and Ed Sheeran.
On a more day-to-day basis, visitors can hear impromptu performances on the station’s two public pianos, which are freely accessible in the Arcade and main concourse for all to play and enjoy; Sir Elton John surprised and delighted visitors with a performance there in 2016.
The station also has a free-to-use jukebox located near to the Southeastern platforms, featuring a library of 57,000 songs to choose from.
It is this diverse range of offerings that makes St Pancras International such a special and unique place, explains HS1 Ltd’s Commercial Director Wendy Spinks.
“It is a stunning building, but it’s ultimately what we do to bring it to life that’s important. A building is only a building at the end of the day, so it’s got to live and operate, and we need to do the things that make that possible.
“Whether it’s the retail outlets, the places you can go to grab a glass of champagne before your train, or somewhere just to sit and listen
Itisa stunning building,but it’sultimately whatwedowithitto bringittolifethat’s important. Wendy Spinks, Commercial Director, HS1 Ltd
to people playing the pianos, these things are what make all the difference to the station.”
She adds: “We are bold enough to do things that other stations haven’t and we continue to innovate, just like the Victorians did in their day. We have great arts programmes and we give people who use St Pancras International the opportunity to see them, which makes things just that bit more inspiring during the drudgery of the daily commute.”
St Pancras International also chose to focus on its retail and cultural offering for two other important reasons.
As the UK terminus for Eurostar services it needed to help the operator gain market share from airlines, while large-scale redevelopment of the station’s surrounding area has also turned the transport hub into an amenity for the rapidly growing local community.
This includes the 67-acre King’s Cross redevelopment to the north of the station on previously derelict wasteland, known as ‘the railway lands’. It is now home to more than 50 new buildings, including 2,000 new homes and a large workforce for companies such as Google that have chosen to relocate to new office space there.
“Our customer base is diverse,” says Spinks. “We have domestic passengers to places like the East Midlands and Kent, but we also have international services to European destinations. That means that service levels and the station experience absolutely need to compete with the finest of modern airports. This is ultimately what Eurostar is up against, so we need to deliver.
“If you think about what is happening on St Pancras’ doorstep, it’s been transformational and there’s a lot more choice of where to go for food or drink. There are also a lot more people living and working in the area which makes the station a great place for them to have their lunch or to pick up a gift.”
HS1 Ltd also put a lot of thought into how to reconcile the provision of 21st century passenger requirements with protection and respect for the original station structure (it’s been Grade 1-listed since 1967).
Spinks recalls one particular instance where a successful outcome was reached despite the serious limitations posed by the historical fabric of the station.
“It would be easy to assume that because the station is Grade 1-listed we can’t do anything, but what we’ve achieved [from the redevelopment] shows that you absolutely can. There needs to be a bit more planning and consideration into how things work, however, for instance when we launched WiFi in 2013.
“The iron columns in the Arcade shopping area interfere with WiFi, which is an example of how original materials do not always work with modern requirements. Even so, we still managed to provide a system that was powerful enough to host 7,000 people all streaming an HD movie at the same time.
“As a management team at HS1 Ltd we have to be creative but we have this magnificent asset, so making extra efforts to find solutions to these issues is worthwhile.”
Spinks says the key to the continued success of St Pancras International will be in the choices it provides to users. By seamlessly mixing retail space with operational areas such as ticket offices and information boards, an inclusive environment has been nurtured so that shopping, arts and culture increasingly complement and integrate with the departure areas of the station.
She concludes: “If people don’t want the retail or cultural offering, we have created an operational environment that allows them to go in and out quickly, but we equally recognise that people who commute are generally time-poor, so the opportunity to shop, eat and drink or do some work can now be done conveniently at the start or end of their journey.
“Gone are the days when all you could get was a sandwich and a coffee if you were lucky - we’ve set the standard much higher and others have followed because that’s what consumers want at a time when more and more people are travelling. Railway stations have become the new high street for people who travel a lot.”