Scheme to add five storeys to existing 10-storey block on London Wall
Hopkins Architects has submitted plans to add five storeys to a David Miller Architects-designed office block in the City of London.
The planning application for 1 Coleman Street in the north of the Square Mile has been designed for Unilmmo Global and would result in a building with a total height of 14 storeys with a single-storey pavilion structure on the roof.
The existing 10-storey building was built for Legal and General in 2007 to replace a 1960s block called Austral House and contains around 235,000sq ft of office space.
Occupying the corner between Coleman Street and London Wall, the current building is described by Hopkins as a “set piece” design with high construction quality and a refined material palette of polished precast concrete.
However, the practice said the block no longer meets the environmental standards, spatial expectations or commercial requirements of modern occupiers and described its ground floor relationship with the surrounding public realm as “poor”.
It said the proposed extension is seeking to celebrate the building’s “considerable architectural value” while delivering a “best-in-class” workplace capable of accommodating a headquarters or multi-tenanted office.
The existing top storey and roof plant level would be removed and replaced with five new office levels, along with a curved roof deck supporting a roof terrace and amenity pavilion.
Hopkins’ brief includes creating a space with panoramic views over the City, with the plans featuring a large roof garden designed by landscape architect Gillespies.
The ground floor would be transformed with a double-height lobby and spaces for public food and beverage offerings, aiming to improve the site’s street-level activation, with the scheme also including new end-of-trip facilities.
The project team includes Third London Wall as project manager, Arup on structures, facades and environment, Exigere on costs, DP9 on planning, Chapmanbdsp on sustainability, OFR on fire and The Townscape Consultancy on townscape.
David Walker Architects has been contacted for comment.
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