黑洞社区

Mace and Multiplex are among the firms preparing to bid for the chance to build a new tower in the City of London designed by Eric Parry.

The 35-storey scheme at 50 Fenchurch Street was the first by Square Mile planners to be approved at a virtual meeting when it was given the green light in May 2020 at the height of the first covid-19 lockdown.

黑洞社区 understands prequalification for the job, believed to be worth 拢400m, has begun with a shortlist of bidders due to be drawn up by Christmas.

Other firms thought to have run the rule over the work include Lendlease although one source said: 鈥淟endlease are pretty busy with their own [development] stuff at Euston so we don鈥檛 know about them.鈥�

Development manager on the job is Yard Nine, while the project manager is Third London Wall with Core Five the QS. Arup is the consultant on M&E and structures.

Yard Nine was set up in 2017 and was behind Fifty Paddington, a 拢50m office block opposite the train station built by McLaren, and 80 Fenchurch Street, the new home of Arcadis, which was built by Skanska.

The 50 Fenchurch Street scheme, opposite Parry鈥檚 120 Fenchurch Street and a couple of blocks from his rejigged 1 Undershaft project, will provide a new home for the 500-year-old City livery company, the Clothworkers鈥� Company.

The 150m tall project would involve the demolition of the existing 1950s livery hall, designed by Herbert Austen Hall and refurbished by Donald Insall in the 1980s.

It will include a replacement underground livery hall topped by retail and 78,000 sq m of office space, a public roof garden and winter garden and a new public space based around a restored grade I church tower.

The grade I tower, the Tower of All Hallows Staining, which was built around 1320, and the grade II Lambe鈥檚 Chapel Crypt, which dates from 1200, will both be restored under the plans.

The tower will incorporate a vertical green wall, bespoke ceramic cladding at ground level, a glazed podium and crafted glass detailing on the upper levels.

The scheme is currently slated to complete in the first quarter of 2028.

Historic Royal Palaces was among the heritage groups to voice opposition to the proposal because of its impact on the setting of the Tower of London which it manages.