Practice outlines design development of £500m 60 Gracechurch scheme
3XN has submitted plans for a £500m tower in the City of London and published a raft of new images showing how the 36-storey office building would look when built.
A newly validated planning application lodged by developers Sellar and Obayashi gives the most detailed look yet of the 60 Gracechurch scheme, which would be built next door to Rafael Viñoly’s Walkie Talkie.
More than 30 new CGIs show close-up views of the building’s terracotta-coloured podium, its diagonal line of planted terraces slanting up the side of the main tower, a series of gardens at its crown and some internal spaces.
The planning documents also outline the design development of the tower and how 3XN arrived at the final design.
The scheme, which would replace an existing eight-storey block which currently serves as the London headquarters of German financial services firm Allianz, is one of four planned towers along Gracechurch Street in an emerging cluster on the southern fringe of the City’s main group of towers.
Its planned neighbours include the 32-storey Woods Bagot-designed 85 Gracechurch Street, KPF’s 33-storey 70 Gracechurch Street and Fletcher Priest’s 32-storey 55 Gracechurch Street, all of which have been consented in the past three years.
3XN said the design of 60 Gracechurch had been heavily influenced by the proximity of its future neighbours and the nearby Walkie Talkie at 20 Fenchurch Street.
The practice said KPF’s 150 metre-tall 70 Gracechurch would impact views to the north from the site, while Fletcher Priest’s 130 metre 55 Gracechurch would “significantly limit” views and daylight to the south.
The Walkie Talkie would also restrict daylight to the east, so it was decided early in the design process to maximise daylight on the western facade, as the Bank Conservation Area protects against future tall development on this side of the site.
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The diagonal “green spine” of terraces on the western facade has been designed to break up the massing of the building, aiming making it appear smaller in views from the west.
The building’s podium has also been set back where it connects to the upper portion of the tower to allow views of the gilded orb of the Monument to the Great Fire of London to the south, one of the City’s most protected heritage sites.
Construction of the tower is scheduled to start in 2026 once the existing building is vacated and complete in 2029, around the same time as several other proposed schemes around the City cluster including Brookfield’s 99 Bishopsgate and Stanhope’s 55 Bishopsgate.
The project team so far includes Turner & Townsend Alinea as cost consultant, project manager Gardiner & Theobald, Arup on engineering and sustainability and planning firm DP9.
The Townscape Consultancy is also on the team as townscape and heritage consultant along with public realm and landscaping consultant Townsend and transport consultant Velocity.
3XN is an emerging force on the London tower architectural market with the firm behind plans to revamp British Land’s Euston Tower scheme as well as the same developer’s 2 Finsbury Avenue project, a 37-storey tower due to be built by Sir Robert McAlpine at the ongoing Broadgate redevelopment. It was also one of the final three practices to be shortlisted for a competition to overhaul the HSBC tower at Canary Wharf, which was eventually won by KPF.
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