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In all of London, it seems like the skyline of the Square Mile changes the most. The City is never without its sky-high construction cranes – and in the next few years it’s set to change even more. Recently at Time Out we’ve covered how the City will have 11 more skyscrapers by 2030 and how it’ll soon have one of Europe’s tallest towers.
And now yet another tower is set for the City. A huge 23-storey, £500 million building was approved by the City of London Corporation last week.
The project is called 55 Old Broad Street and it isn’t so much an entirely new building as a redevelopment. Designed by Fletcher Priest Architects, it’ll involve building upon an existing 1970s office block and replacing its ground floor, though two basement levels are set to be retained.
When finished, 55 Old Broad Street will have a whopping 270,000 square feet of office space, with a façade designed with stuff like natural ventilation and ‘low embodied carbon optimized solar shading’ (us neither, tbh) that’ll apparently last for 100 years.
Here are a few renders of what the finished 55 Old Broad Street project will look like.
It’s worth noting, however, that the project isn’t entirely uncontroversial. The plans apparently received 352 objection letters, many of which concerned the height of the building, as well as how it may tower over nearby Grade II-listed Victorian baths and intrude on views of St Paul’s Cathedral.
55 Old Broad Street isn’t the only controversial re/development proposed for the City. Liverpool Street station’s makeover has proven similarly unpopular with conservationists.
Did you see that G-A-Y is closing its iconic club for good next month?
Plus: east London could soon get a brand-new £23 million bus network.
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