Arriving at the Gymnasium adjacent to St Pancras International the University and Business School delivered a veritable convocation of firsts on the evening of Wednesday 5th November.

Lester Hillman gave a First Visiting Professor Lecture ‘Railways and the Development Interface’ to coincide with year one of Britain’s First High Speed Railway. His decades of involvement coupled with several stakeholder perspectives signalled a rare excursion. This year also marks the first full year of the Business School, one of Europe’s largest with more than 10,500 students. Gathering at a premier international portal seemed entirely appropriate, given the School’s very large international community and the commitment to international collaboration.

The historic venue has had a rich international past, starting life as the ‘German Gymnasium’ and featuring in the development of the modern Olympics. However, hosting a Professorial Inaugural is believed to have been a first.

Royal Train

The Royal Opening of St Pancras International on 6th November 2007 by Her Majesty the Queen accompanied by His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Patron of London Metropolitan University, provided a glittering completion of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Eurostars have now been running for one year through the ‘High Speed 1’ tunnels which skirt LMU North Campus sites.

The invited audience reflected transport professionals and the University family along with the local community. International interests were also well represented and included a delegation from the Russian State University for Trade and Economics.

Vice Chancellor Brian Roper was delighted to welcome Colonel Kay OBE TD DL the Deputy Lieutenant for London Borough of Islington to this his first ceremonial engagement with the University. The University is rightly proud of its long historical associations and geographical roots.

‘Team Work’, a commemorative, two volume, boxed edition published this year records the completion of High Speed 1 including lavish illustration of the Royal Opening. On this first anniversary sets were presented to the Deputy Lieutenant and the Vice Chancellor (for the Patron and University Library). A further presentation was made to the Russian State University.

View from the Observation Car

This was an evening drawing upon major landmarks in rail associated development, graphically reinforced by the exhibition and models, seen earlier, and the view from every window. The transformation of the area is clear in every direction with ‘Network Rail’s King’s Cross Hub and the newly opened home for Guardian newspapers along with a raft of arts and music interests at King’s Place. Northwards, striding half the distance to the Business School at Stapleton House, is Argent’s mixed use development King’s Cross Central.

Roger Madelin, who heads up Argent, had welcomed an audience of nearly 150, in fact there was not a professorial chair to spare as he shared a vision for King’s Cross Central. Following on, Professor Hillman was able to draw upon the completion of Westfield’s Shepherds Bush retail centre opened just a few days earlier. However, he set it within a context of daunting timescales and by way of example the evening marked the anniversary of Crossrail’s first route safeguarding back in 1990.

Future Destinations

University interests from Lille, France to Beijing, China were outlined. The Gymnasium’s history and location next to the station for Javelin trains to Stratford in 2012 introduced an Olympic dimension. Work elsewhere, involving security firms and industrial uses alongside railways, was described together with studies focused on the neighbouring Somers Town.

Lester Hillman’s Visiting Professorship, supporting BAISTL (the Subject Group for Business Analysis, Information Systems, Transport and Logistics), is one of over thirty conferred this year. Appointments to broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Sir David Brewer, Lord Lieutenant for Greater London and a former Lord Mayor illustrate the rich skills base now available to the School. The Vice Chancellor outlined the University’s commitment to build still further on this resource signalling first class presentations down the line.

Thursday's child has far to go...

The University has received considerable feedback on the evening and Julie and Keith Musgrave summed it up nicely "Before Wednesday we were mere passengers".

10th November 2008