70 St Mary Axe occupies 0.2 hectares of prime real estate in the heart of the City of London. The new building replaces two inefficient and unremarkable seven storey office buildings from the 1970s and 80s, with a distinctive 90-metre-tall tower, which has gained the nickname “the Can of Ham”.
Its location in the background of protected views of the Tower of London limited the height of the new building. However, its position within the townscape, mediating between adjacent taller buildings in the City of London and lower buildings to the north and east, required a singular external form to provide a clear identity for the new building.
The project addresses numerous other site and technical constraints with panache and with excellent sustainability credentials. The development provides significant public realm enhancements including a landscaped “pocket park” within the newly pedestrianised street next to the building.
Inside the building, circulation is intuitive. The reception, lift and stair lobbies and washrooms are finished with a palette of high-quality materials, carefully detailed to create a distinctive all- embracing character to the common areas. The office floorplates are simple, flexible and well daylit, with best in class technical specification, providing tenants with an armature within which to create their own fit outs to meet their corporate requirements.
The integration of form and function has enabled an exemplary standard of performance and flexibility to be achieved in a sustainable manner, providing a valuable and distinctive additions to the City of London townscape and public realm.
All the information about how to enter the 2020 WAN Awards is here.
We are very happy to offer support so please don’t hesitate to email Georgia, WAN Awards Event Coordinator with any questions at Georgia.Baily@haymarket.com.
Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WAN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding projects, take a look at the winners from last year here.