Plans for a new City of London skyscraper are unveiled

A new skyscraper could loom over London if plans to redevelop a property next to the old NatWest Tower go ahead.

The site is 55 Bishopsgate which is currently occupied by a relatively low rise office block by city standards being only 7 storeys high with rows of shops on the ground floor either side of the main entrance to the offices.

The £600m development is being proposed by Schroder Real Estate, who bought the existing building on the site in 2016 for £187m. The current building has nearly 200,000 square feet of office space, and the replacement 58-story tower would have 785,000 square feet of office space.

One of the key aspects of the tower’s design is that it will have a much smaller central concrete core, as the skin around the outside of the building will also be partially load-bearing. The skin design is based on a criss-cross leaf-like design based on a naturally occurring Fibonacci leaf structure, according to architects Arney Fender Katsalidis.

However, the skin is left unsealed, allowing fresh air to be drawn into the building, and automatic sunblinds reduce the need for air conditioning for the offices inside the tower.

As with most tall non-residential towers, London planning guidelines require public spaces and here the top floor will be a mixed-use space open to the public. Another viewing gallery on the roof.

Rooftop Observation Deck Concept (c) Arney Fender Katsalidis

The ground area is more interesting, however, as the building is raised on stilts, allowing more of the ground floor to be opened up as a covered public space with the high-rise building above. This creates much more space at the level where people will walk past the tower on the city’s normally quite narrow sidewalks.

There is pre-planning advice for the tower, and details are here.

If it continues, a construction period of about 5 years is expected.

CGI rendering of the new tower (c) Arney Fender Katsalidis