THE LEADENHALL BUILDING THE STORY SO FAR The ever-changing skyline of the City is a reflection of London’s success as a global commercial centre and a celebration of its creativity and imagination. Now a new addition to that skyline is emerging. Unmistakable and uncompromising, yet inextricably connected with its surroundings, The Leadenhall Building is set to play its own unique part in the evolution of the City: respecting the past, and helping to shape the future. Here’s the story so far… “ TEN YEARS AGO, NO ONE IN LONDON USED TO LOOK UP. NOW THEY DO IT ALL THE TIME; THERE’S JUST SO MUCH TO SEE. PEOPLE ARE FASCINATED BY THE LEADENHALL BUILDING, AND I AM, TOO. I LOVE THE SKILL INVOLVED, THE SHEER ENGINEERING PROWESS – AND, OF COURSE, THE HEIGHT. FROM WHERE I LIVE IN WIMBLEDON, THE SKYLINE LOOKS AMAZING. IT’S SO DYNAMIC” John Safa, IT security expert and photographer Talk to anyone involved with The Leadenhall Building and you’ll hear the same words cropping up over and over again. Words like evolution, integrity, context and authenticity. It’s clear this is no ego- driven monument to ambition, parachuted onto the City skyline with scant regard for neighbouring buildings or the people working and living around it. Rather, this particular building is a deeply considered response to a unique set of challenges Of course, it’s only to be expected that So what is it about The Leadenhall Building that The Leadenhall Building’s developers – British Land has so captured people’s imaginations? Of course, and Oxford Properties – the architects at RSH+P and there’s the extraordinary shape, which led City the construction team, led by Laing O’Rourke, should Planning Officer Peter Rees to nickname it wax lyrical about their own project. But look a ‘The Cheesegrater’. There’s the expressed steel little further – beyond those directly involved, to structure that turns every beam and bolt into a thing the wider community – and you’ll find a similarly of beauty. And there’s the distinctive bright yellow enthusiastic consensus. steelwork, so characteristic of RSH+P’s projects. Take blogger and photographer Ben Veasey. ‘What For Paul Burgess, Head of London Leasing at fascinates me is the contrast between the glass and British Land, the key is not how well the building the visible metal skeleton,’ he says. ‘It’s the sort of stands out, but how well it fits in. ‘It’s a great futuristic industrialism that London does so well.’ Or IT piece of contextual architecture,’ he says. expert John Safa, who has chronicled developments ‘The Leadenhall Building is not some shiny on the site at The Leadenhall Building since work began international-style building that could be anywhere. more than 10 years ago, and whose photographs It looks the way it looks because of where it is. appear throughout. ‘London used to be infamous for It’s absolutely of its place.’ That place – bang its grey, monolithic buildings,’ he says. ‘Now we opposite RSH+P’s iconic Lloyd’s building – was have skyscrapers, like The Leadenhall Building, that formerly the site of another British Land holding, people can embrace with pride.’ a tower constructed in the 1960s by architects Gollins Melvin Ward and originally home to shipping company P&O. Although the building remained popular, it was clear by the early 2000s that it was nearing the end of its useful life. Moreover, says Paul Burgess, ‘it wasn’t doing justice to this prominent and important City site.’ THE PROJECT TEAM With the Corporation of London committed to The Leadenhall Building’s sloping south face slots At the bottom of the building, the absence of a core ‘For me, The Leadenhall Building is about drawing realising its vision for a cluster of new skyscrapers on neatly into the space to the left of Wren’s iconic – which in a conventional tower would create a people in,’ says Mike Rayner, Head of Development DEVELOPERS & OWNERS the eastern side of the City, the timing was right for a dome, leaning deferentially away from it to avoid large ‘footprint’, pushing any public space to the at Oxford Properties. ‘Yes, it’s impressive; yes, it’s an British Land and Oxford Properties new building that could both meet the growing encroaching on the world-famous view. very edge of the site – has again allowed the incredible feat of engineering; but it’s also commercial demand for floorspace and make a architects’ creativity to take flight. Their response is permeable and accessible in a way so many other positive contribution to an increasingly dynamic, As any developer looking to build upwards in the galleria, a covered open space soaring seven buildings in the City are not. It engages people ARCHITECT exciting skyline. ‘Building high should never be the the City soon learns, protecting the view of storeys high. From here, you can truly appreciate the – they feel it belongs to them.’ RSH+P first resort,’ says Peter Rees. ‘But if space constraints St Paul’s is paramount. But in the case of sheer scale and controlled strength – which Paul and growing demand mean you have to go vertical, The Leadenhall Building, that restriction, far from Burgess likens to the honed physique of a ballet Perhaps that explains the attraction for people like MAIN CONTRACTOR why not build something interesting? To me, the limiting the architects’ creativity, acted as the dancer – of the steel structure towering above you. Ben Veasey. ‘As a photographer I’m naturally drawn Laing O’Rourke cluster of distinctive buildings now emerging in the springboard to an ingenious solution. Unusually for to the form of the building and its sheer beauty. City is a celebration of our success.’ a tower, there is no central core. The strength of the The plan is for the galleria to house two retail units But the real fascination is the way it’s already building is all in the megaframe – the muscular, and, most importantly, create a beautifully become part of my London. Busy, dynamic, ancient, STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS For Peter Rees and his colleagues at the Guildhall, wedge-shaped framework of steel triangles that landscaped open space for occupants of modern: a mix of influences and styles that’s like Arup just as for The Leadenhall Building’s developers, houses the office floors. With light flooding in from The Leadenhall Building and other people working nowhere else.’ context is all. ‘As planners, we want to see buildings three sides, and minimal pillars, those offices will in the local area. Because the building is completely M & E CONSULTANTS that work with the place, rather than doing offer unparalleled flexibility for occupiers as well as open underneath, the space will also create new The Leadenhall Building is due to be completed Arup something to the place,’ he says. To see how well breathtaking views south, east and west over the pedestrian pathways between Leadenhall Street to in 2014. You can follow the progress of the building the building meets that criterion, just stand outside Ye City, the River Thames and beyond. the south, Undershaft to the north and on up to at www.theleadenhallbuilding.com LETTING AGENTS Olde Cheshire Cheese pub on Fleet Street and look Liverpool Street station, fast emerging as the area’s east towards St Paul’s Cathedral. main transport hub. DTZ Jones Lang LaSalle EXPRESSION OF PURPOSE At 224m of gleaming glass and muscular steel, there’s no doubt The Leadenhall Building packs a mighty visual punch. Yet its bold design is firmly rooted in functionality Set out to create an architectural icon, and you may Take The Leadenhall Building’s defining feature: its are housed – the story is all about exuberant, playful well succeed – at least for as long as it takes for angled shape. Dictated by the need to protect the movement and colour. What Paul Burgess calls the fashion to change and the spotlight to shift to the view of St Paul’s from the west, the shape has the ‘electric mustard’ of RSH+P’s signature yellow next new sensation. A far bigger challenge is effect of creating unusually light, open and flexible steelwork sings out against the alternating blocks of creating a building with enduring appeal: one that office space. It also, in its turn, dictates how the red and blue used to zone different areas of the respects and enhances its setting, engages and building is constructed: using a gigantic steel frame building, as the high-speed glass lifts whizz up and inspires the people who see and use it every day rather than the more conventional concrete core. down to dazzling effect. and celebrates the skill and ingenuity involved in The frame meets the ground at points around the its construction. perimeter of the site, freeing up the area beneath Yet even here, amid the elements that make up this the building. This will house the galleria, described virtuoso display, there is nothing on show that is not In the right hands, of course, a building can tick all by practice partner Graham Stirk, who led the purely functional. ‘The way the building looks is a these boxes – and be dazzling to look at, too. design team, as a ‘cathedral-like public space’. celebration of the elements, the expertise and Enter RSH+P, the architectural practice chosen by ingenuity that go to make up a project like developers British Land and Oxford Properties. It’s an excellent example of just how closely The Leadenhall Building,’ says Andy Young. ‘As well as meeting all our practical and commercial architecture and structural engineering work together ‘Our goal is to express the function of things in the requirements, we wanted to create a great piece of on a project like this: something that’s embodied in most beautiful way we can.