Commercial
130 London Wall
Client
Brookfield and Oxford Properties
Location
London
Value
£1.1M
Architect
MAKE
Principal Contractor
Multiplex
Project Description
London Wall Place was a 500,000 sq ft development which included two new commercial buildings and a large landscaped public garden. The open space is set amongst historic landmarks such as the Roman City Wall and St Alphage Church Tower ruins. The site is located on London Wall between Moorgate and the Barbican and extends over 2 acres.
The Two Iconic Buildings
1 London Wall Place: A 12-storey building with an innovative design that provides large floor plates and includes roof terraces for exclusive tenant use.
2 London Wall Place: A 16-storey tower with vertical glazing strips and a triple-height space at the top of the building.
An interesting feature of both buildings is the cantilevering of the steel frame out above London Wall. This allows London Wall to be opened up as a user-friendly public thoroughfare, complemented by the widening of the adjacent footpath.
Scope of Works
Internal joinery & fit-out works including:
- Timber Doorsets
- Pocket Fire Doorsets
- Metal Plant Room Doorsets
- Stone Clad Reception Desk
- Specialist Automatic Stone Clad Door
- Bronze Skirting
Challenges & Solutions
The reception area in 2 London Wall Place is clad in a lovely stone, with a beautiful Calacatta Michelangelo Marble cladding the reception desk. This marble was hand-selected from an Italian factory. The GRC door behind the reception desk posed a significant challenge due to the excessive weight of the stone. There were concerns that the door would not be operational once the 90kg stone was fixed to the door leaf. However, by redesigning the sizes of the door leaf and stone, it was possible to install a heavy-duty automatic floor spring, creating a hidden door seamlessly integrated into the cladded walls.
A major challenge was providing new fire assessments for all the pocket doors on-site. Months of design meetings and drawing reviews were required before these doors could be manufactured. The doors needed to be seamless when held open within the pocket of the walls, but space constraints presented a significant challenge. Behind the doors were smoke shafts that could not be moved or replaced, meaning the door frames had to be positioned precisely. This required multiple adjustments to the door leaf sizes until the perfect combination was achieved.
These doors were exceptionally large and heavy, making installation difficult for two carpenters. However, once installed, the doors created a stunning visual effect, with perfectly aligned straight lines when viewed down the corridor while held open.
