The SOM designed 100 Leadenhall Street, for the Lai Sun Development Group and their asset manager London & Oriental, has been awarded planning consent by committee in these days. This leads on from the planning submission in January 2018, following SOM’s appointment in 2016 after a design competition between five renowned architectural teams.
At 263.4m AOD the building will be the third tallest in the City of London and falls within the City’s eastern cluster. Providing over 1.3M sf GEA of office-led development, the project is thought to be the last significant development opportunity in the cluster. The tower adopts a tapered form to ensure that the impact on significant views of St Paul’s Cathedral from Fleet Street and other key London views are respected and incorporates a richly articulated façade incorporating a diamond glazing pattern.
The building places sustainability to the fore and targets BREEAM Excellent alongside other carbon and energy saving strategies. Leadenhall Street’s buildings are predominantly stone and the building embraces this with limestone elevations at its base. At ground floor, a number of new retail spaces are provided and new pedestrian routes linking Leadenhall Street to St Mary Axe and Bury Street.
The proposals incorporate three new distinct public spaces, an open courtyard at the south entrance, new open space at the north entrance linking to the wider public realm network and reinstates the churchyard to the east of the adjoining Grade I listed St Andrew Undershaft, providing an additional 10,000 sf of public open space.
In addition to the new public routes through the site, a double-height through-lobby is provided, allowing access from both north and south approaches.
A separate entry provides direct access to a freely accessible viewing gallery that offers 360° views at Level 55 and a dramatic three storey view to the south, east and west at Level 56. The building will contribute to the continued development of the City as the world’s pre-eminent financial market and act as a catalyst for future growth.
The City of London is a unique combination of heritage assets with some of the most internationally recognised buildings of the 21st Century. SOM is proud to be a part of this architectural legacy. Our approach is sympathetic to this rich historic context whilst designing a building that combines our architecture, sustainability and structural engineering sensibilities into a landmark design. Source and images Courtesy of SOM.