黑洞社区

Sellar and Japanese developer and contractor Obayashi have announced plans to build a 鈥渓andmark鈥� 拢500m office tower at 60 Gracechurch Street in the City of London.

The pair have launched the first public consultation on designs by Danish practice 3XN for the tower, which will rise to at least 30 storeys and contain around 400,000 sq ft of floorspace.

3XN is an emerging force on the London tower architectural market with the firm behind plans to revamp British Land鈥檚 Euston Tower scheme as well as the same developer鈥檚 2 Finsbury Avenue project, a 37-storey tower due to be built by Sir Robert McAlpine at the ongoing Broadgate redevelopment.

The Gracechurch Street scheme will replace the site鈥檚 existing eight-storey building, which was completed in 1997 and currently serves as the London headquarters of German financial services firm Allianz.

Early images of 3XN鈥檚 proposals show a large building with a series of planted balconies slanting across a white-coloured facade and several larger terrace levels at roof level.

Obayashi development manager Neil Connolly told 黑洞社区 the aim was to 鈥減roduce something which is at the forefront of today鈥檚 thinking on carbon and genuine sustainability but also something which will stand the test of time鈥�.

The project team so far also includes Turner & Townsend Alinea as cost consultant, project manager Gardiner & Theobald, Arup on engineering and sustainability and planning firm DP9.

The Townscape Consultancy is also on the team as townscape and heritage consultant along with public realm and landscaping consultant Townsend and transport consultant Velocity.

The tower would be the latest in an emerging group of tall buildings along Gracechurch Street that are set to fill in the currently low-rise gap between the Walkie Talkie building and the City鈥檚 eastern cluster of towers which includes 22 Bishopsgate.

Other planned schemes in the neighbourhood include the 32-storey Woods Bagot-designed 85 Gracechurch Street, KPF鈥檚 33-storey 70 Gracechurch Street and Fletcher Priest鈥檚 32-storey 55 Gracechurch Street, all of which have been consented in the past three years.

All of these buildings are around 150m in height, which is expected to be around the height of 3XN鈥檚 plans for 60 Gracechurch.

Consultation documents said the brief for the scheme was to develop an 鈥渋conic building that is worthy of its prominent position鈥� as one of the last remaining development sites on the western boundary of the cluster.

>>Also read: Can campaigners save Liverpool Street station from the bulldozers? Here鈥檚 how they did it last time

A second consultation will be held in late spring before a full planning application is submitted this summer, with a decision by the City expected towards the end of the year. 

Construction will then start in 2026 once the existing building is vacated and complete in 2029, according to the developer team.

Obayashi, founded in 1892, is one of the largest construction companies in Japan with turnover of nearly 拢13bn last year.