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#1 · (Edited)
Bishopsgate Tower - "The Pinnacle"
The City

Height: 288m | Floors: 63 | Architect: Kohn Pederson Fox | Developer: Union Investment Real Estate AG (formerly known as DIFA)

Links: Bishopsgate Tower promotional video (23mb) | Skyscrapernews listing

Notes:
  • At 288 metres, the Bishopsgate Tower will form the centrepiece of London’s financial district. It will be over 100 metres taller than
    the City's current tallest building, Tower 42.
  • Plans for a tower on this site have been around since 2002. A previous design by Helmut Jahn was scrapped following concerns over
    the base and crown, and its effect on views from Fleet Street. The revised design - by architects Kohn Pederson Fox - is more
    sleek and elegantly proportioned, and is intended to complement the neighbouring proposals such as the Leadenhall Building.
  • A planning application was submitted in June 2005. A revised planning application with a 19m height reduction was submitted
    and given final approval in April 2006. In November 2006, the developers secured funding for the project from Arab Investments.
  • The full planning report for the tower can be accessed by clicking here.
Current Status:
Piling is complete. Keltbray are back on site, to complete demo of the previous building (by 10th January 2010), and to complete the
enabling works. A new excavation, 5.5 metres below the present basement floor, is to take place in January in preparation for the core in late 2010.

Despite the long wait, it seems highly likely that this tower will eventually be built. All of the retail space has been let, plus over 25% of the office space,
and the four restaurant floors at the top.

Topping-out is scheduled for late 2012, and the building is due to open in 2013.







































 
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#161 ·
potto said:
Why do we stunt our soaring beauties with so many weeds!
The big blocky number in front of Swiss re is Foggo designed office building that was built a few years back.

The worryign thing about this pic is, I would imagine all the old victorian buildings with a green tick will probably be demolished i the next 10 yrs as the corporation pushes the city further north. They & Hammerson own a lot of the buildings around here & im worried the character of the area which has lots of victorian & georgian buildings will be lost & we will be left with a souless modern office area which is evident i a lot of the city these days.

I wish EH or whoever lists buildings would list most of the older buildings I this area- I noticed in the 201 Bishopsgate thread that the light bar (& the victorian warehouse its housed in may be demolished)I would image in this is part of the Hammerson Northgate development. Why cant they incorporate the building into ther plans to give it some soul .These buildings could make excellent bars/restaurants & housing. They only look grotty now as developers are keen to run them into the ground.

Anyway , back to thread topic- I don’t know everyones getting so worked up- This tower will be huge- Almost twice the height of tower 42 & remember the site runs up Bishopsgate so appears longer/fatter when viewed from the West. Compared to its height its not that "fat" -Its designed to fit its site ,which is exactely what its doing.
 
#165 ·
the height is staggering really... i wouldnt be concerned about the bulk, at the height if it looks bulky then this will be one huge building to behold and that will be an awesome experience whatever the flesh result. This scraper is designed to such a high standard that there is no reason to be concerned at all.... these are big towers. Compare this and LBT to the towers in Houston.

Houston's tallest
JPMorganChase Tower 305 m 1982

Wells Fargo Plaza 302 m 1983
Williams Tower 275 m 1983


The two tall ones are the JPMorganChase and the Wells Fargo PLaza


These are huuuuuuuuuuuuuge heights!
 
#166 ·
It makes me feel glad to be english when looking at those american cities - they are hell on earth (apart from dubai or china) and am thankful for the standard of our new builds (most of them) including bishopsgate for all its very minor failings. Mind you I suppose all lot of those piles of poo are 70 etc and ours arent much better, but on the whole London has a tremendous qualty of architecture now, even in europe - think of la defense, and even frankfurt - with Londons impending scrapers it may be the most beautiful sky scraper city in the whole wide world. Not including canary wharfe
 
#167 ·
^^ Why dubai or china??? maybe Chinese for being colourful and vibrant, but dubai is almost of joke proportions, and while the sheer scale of whats going on may be impressive, the majority of whats being built there is absolute pap.
 
#168 ·
J.A.W said:
It makes me feel glad to be english when looking at those american cities - they are hell on earth (apart from dubai or china) and am thankful for the standard of our new builds (most of them) including bishopsgate for all its very minor failings. Mind you I suppose all lot of those piles of poo are 70 etc and ours arent much better, but on the whole London has a tremendous qualty of architecture now, even in europe - think of la defense, and even frankfurt - with Londons impending scrapers it may be the most beautiful sky scraper city in the whole wide world. Not including canary wharfe
Houston is particularly bad - aside from a couple of little oases, it's built with cars, not people in mind and is an awful city as a result.

Mind you, I have also been to Bradford...
 
#177 ·
grrr. i've said this again and again. the redesign has hardly made any difference. the tower has barely lost 5% of its height.

all of the new renders that you've seen of the tower are from a different angle from waterloo bridge where you see the cross section of the tower when it is wider. the 'tallest' looking render is taken from near tate modern and you miss out on the widest part of the tower which can only been seen from the west. from the south the proportions of this tower are better.... its an interesting tower; it looks different from different viewpoints like the bank of china in hong kong. it's a perfect skyscraper and has never really been done before.... like lbt and the gherkin.

worry not. this skyscraper is an absolutely cracking design and if it gets built (a big if) it will round off the city skyline superbly. can't wait.
 
#178 ·
Thats a very interesting point Dom....You named three pioneering structures in London!

I wonder if London is going to be recognised for this? (or is it already) I just thought also that T42 was a first (tallest Cantilever at that time)...hey...this could be our niche that separates us from all other skyscraper cities!!!
 
#180 · (Edited)
dom: "...and if it gets built (a big if)..." i thought it was going up for some reason :( thats gutting.

- is there a simple answer as to when we might find out if its going ahead?

it would be rubbish if after all the pages of thread it never went up. plus all the towers in the surrounding cluster would loose alot of their 'mojo' without a decent centre point.

does that mean the City of london must be kicking themselves for allowing C Wharf to poach all their prospective tenents? presumably the City was too caught up in planning red tape to act fast enough when demand for office space materialised.

sorry if someone's already raised these points

-my first post
 
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