December 2011 Archives

Heritage minister John Penrose has granted Grade I listed status to Richard Roger's hi-tech, postmodern Lloyd's Building in the City of London. The listing was recommended by English Heritage about six months ago and it becomes the youngest building to receive such protection. It is now in the same category as St Paul's Cathedral and Windsor Castle!

Rather ironically, the listing gives permanence to a building that was designed to be flexible and adapt to changes. This was one of the reasons why all of the services (lifts, pipes etc) were stuck on the outside, leaving an uncluttered inside space that could be easily reconfigured. However, this has been taken into consideration by English Heritage and the listing will mainly protect the building against unsuitable alteration or development.

I was lucky enough to get a glimpse inside this iconic building back in September as part of the London Open House weekend, the photos of which can be viewed here. If you're not an insurance underwriter, this is probably your only chance of experiencing the splendour of its awe-inspiring design.

The final satellite dish on the iconic BT Tower in Central London was removed yesterday, ending the year long project to remove the 29 dishes and transforming the look of the 47 year old landmark.  

The dishes have been redundant for years following the introduction of fibre-optic technology but when they were installed in the 1960s they were transmitting television shows around the country.

The decision to finally remove them was approved on safety grounds as they were in a bad state of repair and the fixings were no longer secure. The tower's owners would have had to obtain listed building consent because it has been Grade II listed since 2003.

It took such a long time to remove all of the 29 dishes because of the delicate operation involved. The dishes are huge and floating 150 m (500 ft) above people's heads in a very busy area of the city.

The dishes are synonymous with the tower and it's truly the end of an era.....but it's not the end for the tower. It will remain a fully functioning building according to a BT spokesman and ninety per cent of what we see on TV still comes through the BT Tower!

Last Tuesday I was fortunate enough to get a half day out of the office to attend the popular EG Offices Summit, organised in association with BCO. The event was held at Hines' newly completed Cannon Place, which meant we were lucky enough to spy the finished product with its amazing views....

...And secret door behind the reception desk, which is revealed from a light panelled wall if you ask to use the facilities. 

Topics of the day included whether it was better to refurbish or rebuild tired office buildings. Refurbishment is of course the environmentally friendly choice; however with 70s blocks floor to ceiling heights can make this unworkable. In any case, the government's proposal to make non-energy efficient buildings un-rentable after 2018, means this question will be on the minds of many landlords.

Occupiers meanwhile will be more interested in how they can get the most out of their square footage. An interesting case study was presented from BT about how it was able to fit more workers into its Brentwood office, by implementing a hot desking system - using the budget airline principal of overbooking and assuming some people won't turn up. Delegates were left with the impression that many expanding companies will be using innovative ways of maximising existing space rather than looking for additional offices.