Behold the behemoth: City of London’s biggest tower 22 Bishopsgate makes a mark

You may have noticed a rather imposing tower rising in the City in recent months.

You can hardly miss it. It’s quite a beast.

This here, is Twenty Two Bishopsgate, and it’s a giant. Up to 12,000 people will work in this one building alone when completed and occupied.

View from London Bridge




The height is striking, being the tallest in the City, but what is most noticeable is the width of the thing.

The tower will eventually stand at 278 metres (912 ft) tall with 62 storeys. It was launched speculatively.

Previous plans were for a tower named Pinnacle but these fell apart in 2012, with a short concrete stump left. In it’s place came new plans, which lowered the height and widened the width.

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The building will incorporate restaurants, art galleries and public space, with even climbing wall located on the 42nd floor.

Complete

It’s such large buildings, as part of a number of skyscrapers I covered back in July, that has led to the City of London planning to close up to half of streets to vehicles. All these people cannot be accommodated in narrow paving.



It should be completed in 2019.

I’ve added many more photos of the City to my Flickr page here.

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J Smith

I've lived in south east London most of my life growing up in Greenwich borough and working in the area for many years. The site has contributors on occasion and we cover many different topics. Living and working in the area offers an insight into what is happening locally.

4 thoughts on “Behold the behemoth: City of London’s biggest tower 22 Bishopsgate makes a mark

  • It’s impressively tall, though somewhat bland. However, placing skyscrapers in every spare space will not enhance the London skyline, which should be planned using aesthetic sensibilities. This new building now obscures the Cheesegrater from many angles due to it being so near, which is a disappointment given that the latter is of a pleasingly idiosyncratic design. Also being gradually obscured is the Gherkin, which is a real shame.

    Reply
  • is it actually called ‘Cheesegrater’? Terrible scary looking building. One you wish was from lego so it could be undone and removed from the area. Awful ‘architecture’

    Reply
    • Yes, its informal name is the Cheesegrater. I used to think it was ugly as well, but I gradually came to change my opinion once I appreciated its uniqueness. I agree it’s still scary though, and I think it resembles a structure you might imagine to be on a prison planet. As such, it’s well-placed to incarcerate all those who ‘work’ on the stock exchange.

      Reply
  • Pingback: A reminder of how wonderful Greenwich Park is – From The Murky Depths

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