Plans have been shown off for another skyscraper to sit next to the Walkie Talkie building in the City of London. 55 Gracechurch Street is an office block that was built in 1992 and sits between two existing offices. Sold just a couple of years ago, the plan is to tear it down and replace it with the 32-storey tower.
A lower six-storey podium level will be a mix of retail, small startup offices, and a public area including the 6th and 7th-floor winter-garden style terraces. The 7th floor of the public garden will be more of a treetop walkway that will give people an elevated view across London, surrounded by the treetops below.
The podium block will also be set back from the current frontage behind structural beams, which frees up more pavement space. The ground floor is also expected to be mostly open to the public, creating an indoor plaza type space which will also link up with the existing alleys in the area, recreating cross passages through the block that were lost in the 20th century.
The tower above is more conventional and is being designed to rent out floors for up to 100 people, and aimed mainly at mid-sized firms, which make up the majority of City of London businesses anyway.
The planning application is here.
Images from the planning application.
Not large enough to obscure the view of that terrible building. Maybe someone could design a tower like a large top hat to go over it and hide it completely.
I’m sure somebody loves it though.
How the Walkie Talkie got planning permission is a mystery, it is the ugliest building in the City. Anything that obscures the
view of that monstrosity has to be good!
It’s not tall enough.. what is it with you people, have you ran out of concrete or something?
Just been looking at this having seen it in the trade press. It’s actually a very interesting and solid desgn. A welcome return to International style Modernism, an intriguing public garden atop the podium and some very sensitive work in the many alleyways crossing the site. The design and access statement is one of the nest I’ve seen for conveying all that. And yes, plenty like the Walkie Talkie.
These new buildings have to be bigger and taller. You can’t change your mind once its built and there’s limited space in The City. I feel they are too small. We need to be building big