Laying in the electricity supply to the Kings Cross railway lands has caused havoc on local roads and an awful din as the road is jackhammered up. Major routes York Way and now Caledonian Road have been heavily disrupted, with dreadful knock on problems for buses. It looks like the end is in sight, with major disruption over by mid-June.
I spoke with NACAP (01449 727600 – ask for Alan Peters) who are digging on behalf of EDF Energy to lay 2.7km of ducting for the railway lands development. Into the 20 way duct will go 8 cables for the 13,000 volt supply – this leaves 12 ducts spare for future cabling, which is at least a sensible investment for the future.
Roughly, Railway Street should be finished in the middle of next week. The Cally road works will go on until about 6th June, then Balfe Street from 6-10 June and Northdown Street on 10 June. In the future they will have to put in a jointing box somewhere near Balfe Street when the cable is threaded through, but that should be relatively minor work.
It would be interesting to hear from Argent the railway lands developers what other utility treats they have in store for residents. Are gas, water and telecoms already in, will existing ducting be reused or will the streets be dug up again and again? It is particularly frustrating in this case that streets in Islington get dug up instead of largely streets in Camden, where the development is.
The legislation in this area gives the utility companies a right to do more or less what they want so it isn't clear what people who suffer the noise and disruption can do about it. There have been, I am assured, extensive talks with the Council about the route and nature of the current works.
Kings Cross Environment 
Oh so it’s Argent is it? Well, what do residents of Balfe Street, Regent’s Quarter, south Cally etc etc etc get in return for all this disruption? How about paying for a railway bridge, or providing us with some of the woopie doo services residents of King’s Cross Central will get??? Or are we just an annoyance to the likes of Roger Madelin (who called me ‘bohemian’ because I’ve always loved living in this area – like you have to be odd to live in KX)… Hurumph!!!! It wouldn’t take much for Madelin and co to become heroes – why do they just want to create conflict???????
Haven’t they already finished in Balfe Street? Or are they going to dig up the upper half of the street as well?
Incredibly, Islington Council has just resurfaced this part of Caledonian Road. I had been assured many weeks ago (in relation to Thames Water’s mains replacement programme down Caledonian Road) that the Council would avoid getting out-of-sync with major utilities works. That assurance now seems a bit hollow. Either the Council forgot to check with EDF or EDF lied. Both possibilities seem quite likely.
It now transpires that EDF are prepared to pay for the entire resurfacing of this part of Caledonian Road (and other streets that are just freshly resurfaced) once their works are finished. I just heard from the Borough’s highways people who reckon this is a good deal. Seems like a waste of tarmac to me … and another few days of inconvenience to nearby residents and everyone who uses Cally Road.