KPF submits reworked City of London tower scheme
Filed on behalf of developer Stanhope and investor Ontario Teachers Pension Plan this month, the 132m-tall scheme includes a part-retrofit of the existing 23-year-old office building at 70 Gracechurch Street, north-west of the Walkie Talkie.
A rooftop public gallery, 50,000m2 of office floor space and cultural ground floor space also feature in KPF’s scheme – a redesign of a 33-storey proposal approved in 2021. That scheme featured three linked forms containing 73,000m2 of office space and public viewing galleries on the upper floors and a food hall on the ground floor.
The City of London approved the earlier scheme despite an objection from Historic England, which said the proposal at the south-west tip of the City Cluster could reduce the significance of both the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral. The heritage body added that overshadowing could negatively affect the future sustainability of Leadenhall Market.
Hong Kong-based developer Tenacity sold the site in 2022 to retail estate giant Stanhope and investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. The AJ reported in April that KPF had began consulting on revised designs.
Unlike that design, the submitted scheme retains a seven-storey building on the site, designed by BDP and completed in 2001. The block, which once held a Marks & Spencer store and has office space above, would have been flattened under the existing consent.
KPF now proposes cladding the existing building in stone while cladding the office floors above in large glass panels and textured horizontal metal spandrels, consultation documents say.
A spokesperson for Stanhope and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said: ‘We submitted a planning application for the 70 Gracechurch Street site on 1 August following an extensive programme of engagement with the local community and City of London Corporation.
‘Our plans will deliver a truly sustainable building at 70 Gracechurch Street with the reuse and retention of substantial elements of the existing structure, which will minimise the carbon impact of redevelopment. There will also be exciting new cultural spaces and public routes around the site.’
Several consented schemes are being revised in the Square Mile. These include 3XN’s plans for 60 Gracechurch Street, on the western edge of the emerging cluster of towers in the City, and Eric Parry’s One Undershaft. Fletcher Priest is meanwhile working on proposals for a 40-storey tower neighbouring Foggo Associates' Can of Ham at 70 St Mary Axe.
A decision on 70 Gracechurch Street is due before the end of the year. Completion is scheduled for 2032.
