Client
- Tower Limited Partnership
- SIZE
- 113,500 sq ft
- Completion
- September 2017
15 Bishopsgate is a six story office building with retail at ground and basement level that edges the re-landscaped public areas.
Tower 42, formerly the Nat West Tower was designed in the early 1970’s by Richard Seiffert and completed in 1980. It was rebuilt after being badly damaged by an IRA bomb in 1993. Whilst the tower itself has iconic status the ground plane and low-level buildings were poorly considered and anti urban. The project addressed these issues in the following ways: - Replacement of the poor quality office building on Bishopsgate - Removal of the high level walkways - Creating a new east west route through the estate - Generating a lively and attractive urban realm The new seven storey office building is 50% larger than the original and provides 57,000sqft of office space above ground floor retail. It is clad in Portland stone in deference to the adjoining Grade II * listed Gibson Hall. The proportions and massing have been carefully designed to respect the giant Corinthian order of the adjacent 19th century banking hall and its statue studded skyline. The high-level pedestrian walkways were cleared, and a ramped route created between Bishopsgate and Old Broad Street, this is in turn lined with retail units which reflect the form of the tower above. The space between the base of the tower and the new buildings is now a busy pedestrian street that reinforces the micro grain of the City of London.
