20 Fenchurch Street (The Walkie Talkie) - Fenchurch Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.694 W 000° 05.007
30U E 702374 N 5710748
The building, 20 Fenchurch Street, has been given the name "The Walkie Talkie" due to its unusual shape. The building is on the south side of Fenchurch Street and is scheduled for completion in spring 2014.
Waymark Code: WMH5PQ
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/27/2013
Views: 14
The building does not appear to have a straight line in its exterior and increases in floor area as it rises from the street. On the screens, surrounding the base of the building, there is a claim that the office space increases by 25 people on each floor.
The SkyScraper News website gives some facts about the building that started construction in 2011:
- The top heavy massing comes from the idea that rental income can be maximised by having bigger top floors that command more rent. This should make the tower more profitable than typical.
- The tower is clad with double and triple glazed panelised aluminum cladding.
- Thanks to the structural shape of the building, and in particular the stresses placed by it on the southern face, 20 Fenchurch Street is designed to stay rigid to within 60mm on the top floor.
- The south facade is externally ventilated to improve the efficiency of the building and reduce solar gain whilst the east and west sides have extensive solar shading within their cladding.
- The roof garden is stepped over a number of levels to contain the plant machinery of the tower within them whilst allowing access to the very top of the tower at the same time.
- Following criticism about the height and impact on the views of St Pauls Cathedral the design has been reduced by 9 floors from 45 to 36.
- It was previously 192.19 metres tall (209.19 AOD) and had 83540.00 sq m of floor space.
- The nickname, "the Walkie Talkie", was coined by this site inspired by stupid monikers other London skyscrapers have.
- In December 2006, the scheme was called in by Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who stated that a tall building would be unsuitable for this site.
Building Specification:
Status: Under Construction
Proposal date: 2006
Construction start date: 2011
Completion date: 2014
Style: Futurist
Roof Height (AOD): 177.16m
Roof Height (AGL): 160.11m
Floor To Ceiling Height: 2.75m
Total Floors (O.G): 36
Total Floors (U.G): 2
Number of Lifts: 16