Schemes at 85 Gracechurch Street and 63 St Mary Axe given thumbs-up this morning
The City of London has given planning to two more towers in the Square Mile including one that had to be updated following the discovery of a Roman basilica at the site.
The scheme at 85 Gracechurch Street by Woods Bagot was set to be 32 storeys high and was given planning more than 18 months ago. It will include a new public hall and exhibition space.
But archaeological investigations by the Museum of London Archaeology uncovered Roman ruins dating to the 1st century AD and include foundations and walls constructed from flint, ragstone and Roman tile.
As a result, the tower has been cut down to 30 storeys by developer Hertshten Properties to allow the remains to be on permanent public display in the basement. Revised plans were submitted in the spring.
The basilica was constructed during the governorship of Agricola and formed part of the administrative and civic centre of Londinium.
Others working on the 85 Gracechurch Street job include project manager Gardiner & Thoebald, surveyor Shaw Corporation, QS Turner & Townsend Alinea, multi-disciplinary firm Arup, M&E consultant Sweco, planning specialist DP9 and structural and geotechnical firm Robert Bird.
The scheme, which had originally proposed 35,000sq m of office space, is due to be completed by 2030.
Gracechurch Street is set to become a new tower cluster in the Square Mile with proposals by Stanhope for a 33-storey tower designed by KPF at 70 Gracechurch Street getting the green light in February.
Danish practice 3XN is behind a scheme at 60 Gracechurch Street which is being developed by Sellar and was given approval just before Christmas. The job will be built by Bovis.
Meanwhile, Fletcher Priest鈥檚 plans for a 45-storey office building at 63 St Mary Axe have also been given the green light.
Designed for multinational investor Axa IM Alts, the building would contain around 85,000sq m of office space, 4,000sq m of cultural and community space and outdoor gardens on all occupied levels.
It would also contain a permanent exhibit of a surviving section of the Roman wall which will be displayed in a recessed area of the building at street level.
The plans have stirred some controversy due to the proposed removal of a 13th century burial ground on the site which is the only remaining physical evidence of the two medieval churches it was associated with, St Augustine Papey and St Martin Outwich.
Historic England said the removal of the burial ground 鈥渕ay cause a level of harm that would not be outweighed by the heritage benefit of showcasing the [Roman] wall鈥�.
But City planning officers claimed the proposals would 鈥渆nhance鈥� the burial ground and praised plans for a PhD studentship to oversee and manage the excavation and study of any artefacts uncovered during pre-construction surveys.
The project team on 63 St Mary Axe includes T&T Alinea as cost consultant, with CBRE acting as project manager, AKT II as structural and civil engineer, Arup as fire engineer, Velocity as transport consultant and Gustafson Porter & Bowman as landscape architect.
Other members of the team include mechanical engineer Hilson Moran, facade engineer FMDC, daylight consultant GIA and planning consultant DP9.
Fletcher Priest is also working on two other tower proposals in the cluster, the 24-storey 55 Old Broad Street for Landsec, due to be built by Skanska, and the 32-storey 55 Gracechurch Street for Tenacity.
Chairman of the City of London Corporation planning and transportation committee Tom Sleigh said: 鈥淭ogether, these buildings deliver over 100,000sq m of top-grade office space and thousands of new jobs, cementing the City鈥檚 status as the engine room of the UK economy. Their addition to the future skyline will preserve our capital鈥檚 status as a leading global city.鈥�
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