Geography Department field trips to King’s Cross and Nine Elms

This week, the Geography Department has run fieldtrips to two of the country’s largest redevelopment sites.

Kings Cross Redevelopment Fieldtrip

After school on Tuesday 27 September, 13 Upper and Lower Eighth Geography students accompanied Mr Poynter, Mr Isaac and Mr Goldup on a tour of the King’s Cross Redevelopment site, the tour was given by the lead asset manager of the property developers, Argent, and was a fascinating and candid insight into this hugely successful mixed use urban regeneration scheme.

The pupils were given a close up tour of the model that the planners used to design and configure the redevelopment before touring the site, taking in Google’s new “Groundscraper” HQ, Gasholders residential conversions and the retail space of Coal Drops Yard.

The pupils asked insightful questions regarding the social aspects of this type of project and were able to hear about the environmental and ethical practices of property developers and their particular approach to “place making”.

Nine Elms and Battersea Power station Redevelopment Fieldtrip

On Tuesday 4 and Thursday 5 October, the Geography department took 120 Sixth Form pupils on a fieldtrip to Nine Elms, during which they took in the changing landscape across the area, including the Battersea Power Station Redevelopment Project.

The pupils were able to collect data in groups on the changing land use and also experience the impacts on the people and environment, whilst they questioned whether this could be the next new business district for London.