| 122 Leadenhall Street | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Alternative names |
|
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Office |
| Architectural style | Post-modern /Structural expressionism |
| Location | London,EC3 |
| Completed | June 2013 |
| Opened | July 2014; 10 years ago (2014-07) |
| Cost | £1.15 billion[2][3] |
| Owner | C C Land[1] |
| Height | |
| Roof | 225 metres (738 ft)[4] |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 48 |
| Floor area | 84,424 m2 (908,730 sq ft) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architecture firm | Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners |
| Structural engineer | Arup[3] |
| Services engineer | Arup[3] |
| Website | |
| www | |
| References | |
| [3] | |
122 Leadenhall Street, also known as theLeadenhall Building,Leadenhall Tower or informally theCheesegrater, is a 225-metre-tall (738 ft)skyscraper in centralLondon. It opened in July 2014 and was designed byRogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. The informal name references its wedge shape similar tothe kitchen utensil.[5]
The building adjoins theLloyd's Building, also designed byRichard Rogers.[5] The previous, 1960s building on the site was owned byBritish Land and had been designed byGollins Melvin Ward. By December 2009, the site was cleared but construction stalled because of the2008 financial crisis. The project was revived in 2010 byOxford Properties in partnership with British Land.[6]
From 1840,P&O had occupied the offices ofWillcox & Anderson. However, business east of theGulf of Suez increased in the late 1840s, so it needed larger offices. In 1845, the company purchased the King's Arms inn and hotel at 122 Leadenhall Street for £7,250. A new office building on the site cost it about £8,000 and opened in 1848.[7]
In 1854, the company expanded its offices with a lease on 121 Leadenhall Street, and further 80 year leases fromSt Thomas's Hospital on dwellings at 123, 124 and 125 which were demolished to create a new frontage for 122.[7]
By the mid-1960s, the company sought more office space from its narrow site.Commercial Union Assurance Company planned a redevelopment on the adjacent site at the corner ofSt Mary Axe but that had poor access. To achieve a satisfactoryplanning consent and optimise floor space the two companies carried out a joint development, with adjustment of boundaries, and creation of an open concourse at the junction of Leadenhall Street and St Mary Axe.[citation needed]
Gollins Melvin Ward's 1969 building at 122 Leadenhall Street was 54 m (177 ft) tall with 14 storeys above grade and three below.[8] It matched Commercial Union's new, adjacent headquarters, laterSt Helen's. The building had a central, compressional concrete core and suspended floors hung using steel 'chords', visible on the exterior, themselves hung from power trusses at the top of the building. The architect acknowledged the influence ofMies van der Rohe.[citation needed]
The building was extensively damaged by anIRA bomb in the early-1990s and subsequently had to be reclad. Tenants included the Italian International Bank andCalyon.[citation needed]
In 2007–08, McGee contracted to demolish the building for £16 million. After stripping the interior and removal of low level structures, thesuspended parts of the building had to be dismantled floor by floor from the bottom.[9]
Designed byRichard Rogers and developed byBritish Land andOxford Properties, the new Leadenhall Building is 225 m (737 ft) tall, with 48 floors. With its distinctive wedge-shaped profile it has beennicknamedtheCheesegrater,[10][11] a name originally given to it by theCity of London Corporation's chief planning officer, Peter Rees, who upon seeing a model of the concept "told Richard Rogers I could imagine his wife using it to grate parmesan. [The name] stuck."[12]
The planning application was submitted to theCity of London Corporation in February 2004 and was approved in May 2005.[13] In 2006 Scheme Design (RIBA Stage D) started. In a statement made to theLondon Stock Exchange on 14 August 2008, British Land said it was delaying the project, which was due to start in October 2010.[14] On 22 December 2010, the developer announced the project was moving forward with contracts being signed for the 50/50 joint venture with Oxford Properties.[11]
The new tower features a tapered glassfaçade on one side which reveals steel bracings, along with a ladder frame to emphasise the vertical appearance of the building. It also appears to anchor the tower to the ground, giving a sense of strength. Unlike other tall buildings, which typically use a concrete core to provide stability, the steel "Megaframe", engineered byArup, provides stability to the entire structure and is the world's tallest of its kind. The base features a 30m highatrium which is open to the public and extends the adjacent plaza.[15] The flat side of the building is also encased in glass, and houses the mechanical services – in particular theelevator shafts. These have been turned into an architectural feature, similar to the neighbouringLloyd's Building – they deliberately display the elevator machinery, with bright orange counterweights and elevator motors.
This unusual design's main drawback is the building's relatively small floorspace (84,424 m2) for a building of its height. It is hoped that the slanting wedge-shaped design will have less impact on theprotected sightline ofSt Paul's Cathedral when viewed fromFleet Street and the west.
In July 2011, British Land and Oxford Properties announced thatLaing O'Rourke was the main contractor for the works of the new Leadenhall Building. Throughout 2011, construction began with the basement floors. By December 2012, the steelwork had progressed up to the fifth mega-level, with topping out expected in February or March. The glass cladding had also begun to rise. In May 2013, the co-developers announced that the building was over 51% pre-let. By June 2013, the steelwork of the building was completely topped out with the glass cladding covering almost half the building.
The construction of the building was the subject of an episode of theSuper Skyscrapers documentary series by the American television channelPBS in February 2014.[16]
In November 2014, twoembrittled bolts broke and fell from the building. Another descended in January 2015.Severfield, who had supplied and erected the building'sstructural steel, announced a £6 millioncharge for remediation works that were settled in 2019.[17] Severfield had already booked £9.9 million of losses on the project in 2012.[18]Leeds-based Andrews Fasteners Ltd, which went intoadministration, supplied[19] the 3,000 defective 'megabolts', each the size of a human arm.[20] A majority were replaced. Severfield had not used the bolts before and its chief executive said it would be unlikely to do so in the future.[21]
During the 2017 redevelopment of nearby22 Bishopsgate, a suspended girder struck the 122 Leadenhall Street building. Severfield was also the steel frame subcontractor toMultiplex's Bishopsgate site. Nobody was hurt.[22]
[when?]
| Floors | Space designation |
|---|---|
| 45 | DTEK[23] |
| 44 | Affinity[23] |
| 43 | Petredec[23] |
| 42 | Landing Forty Two[23] |
| 40-41 | FM Global[23] |
| 39 | Brit Insurance[23] |
| 35–38 | DRW Trading Group[23] |
| 31–34 | Quadrature Capital[24][23] |
| 30 | Servcorp[25][23] |
| 28–29 | OMERS[23] |
| 27 | DRW Trading Group[23] |
| 26 | Aegon[23] |
| 25 | DRW Trading Group[23] |
| 19–24 | MS Amlin[23] |
| 16–18 | Brit Insurance[23] |
| 15 | Virgin Money[23] |
| 14 | RSHP[23] |
| 4–13 | Aon[23] |
| 3 | Bob Bob Ricard City (January 2019)[26][23] |
| 2 | Reception |
| 1 | Aon[23] |
| Mezzanine | Black Sheep Coffee[23] |
| Ground | Black Sheep Coffee[23] |
The development has succeeded in attracting tenants, especially in contrast to the nearby part-builtPinnacle and completedHeron Tower. In May 2011, it was announced that the lower 10 floors of the Leadenhall Building have been pre-let to insurance brokerAon, which moved its global headquarters to London fromChicago.[27] Insurance groupAmlin has also agreed terms on a 20-year lease of the 19th to 24th floors as well as the top floor, the 45th, from March 2015, for a total of 111,000 sq ft of office space.[28]
51°30′49.66″N0°4′56.21″W / 51.5137944°N 0.0822806°W /51.5137944; -0.0822806
