While the rules about a good location still apply, it is a definition that has changed over the past few years. People are prepared to shrug off the problems associated with urban neglect if a development feels secure and the vision for an area’s future is sufficiently attractive.One of the reasons people have been so sure that King’s Cross would eventually recover is that, as a transport hub, it will be unrivalled. Cobblestones have been rescued for re-use and the public will be able to walk through Regent Quarter, which will be laid out with small courtyards.Even if the prostitutes have been moved on, the area’s after-dark stigma is not going to disappear in an instant and the development will be closed to non-residents at night. This is one of the few remaining industrial sites from Victorian times that is intact.

Of course, some of the original buildings have disappeared but essentially it is unchanged with pubs in each corner.”The preservation of buildings has involved English Heritage and those residents from the surrounding areas who fear that wholesale development would demolish the past. Remaining properties range between £300,000 and £700,000.”This mix of old and new is a main selling point,” says Graham Corser of P&O. “There are plenty of new boxes out there but there is no doubt that people place a value on the historic element. Individual features include an interior mezzanine level with a spiral staircase in one and a live-work unit in another. There will be 146 homes altogether, 35 of which will be affordable housing. Among the new buildings are warehouse-style apartments, with cast iron and exposed brickwork.

Already buyers are looking at the area as an alternative to the trendier and more expensive spots in Camden and Islington.As the earliest scheme to come on the market, the first phase sold out immediately when it was launched last year. Regent Quarter will have homes, offices, shops, bars and restaurants and, as a clearly defined area, there is every reason to think it will develop a community feel. The potential of both these areas has been talked about for decades, but it is likely to take at least another 10 years for the redevelopment to be completed.At King’s Cross, hoardings conceal work being carried out in a six-acre site owned by P&O Developments. Neglected railway land and remnants of old businesses are making way for mixed-use schemes that will have the benefit of exceptional transport links.