Climbing Great Buildings - St Pancras

Dr Jonathan Foyle, architectural historian and novice climber, scales Britain's most iconic structures, from the Normans to the present day, to reveal the buildings' secrets and tell the story of how our architecture and construction has developed over 1,000 years. The next step Jonathan's journey takes him to King's Cross St Pancras, a masterpiece of Victorian design, widely regarded as London's most stunning and romantic station. With unprecedented access to St Pancras, aided by champion climber Lucy Creamer, Jonathan scales all over the buildings to investigate the innovations and techniques used to construct both the train terminal and the elegant Midland Hotel. On the Midland Hotel, Jonathan climbs over 240 feet up the immense clock tower to explain how Britain had different time zones until the advent of stations like St Pancras. He discovers water-powered elevators, why penthouses used to be on the ground floor, and how the hotel was almost doomed to failure by only providing nine bathrooms for 400 bedrooms. And in the station he scales the incredible glass span roof that crosses the main terminal- the largest of its kind in the world- to reveal the brilliance of its construction, how St Pancras was literally built on beer and why it took a poet to save one of London's greatest landmarks from being torn down.