Walkie Talkie Design Changes Revealed

Developer, Land Securities, has revealed its revised plans for a skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London after it was basically ordered by the planning body in the City to reduce the height.Although only told to lop about 20 metres off it to protect views of St Paul's Cathedral, the developer has gone a step further and sliced a total of 9 floors off from 45 floors to 36 that should reduce the height to around the 150 metre mark. The design has also been refined further, proportionally some of the curvature at the waist of the tower has gone reducing the inwards taper on the north-south axis although this hasn't bulked it out as much as some people feared. It still retains the "walkie talkie" look, and if anything the reduction in height has made it look a bit more like a traditional skyscraper. Previously the scheme had polarised opinions between "love it" and "hate it" thanks to the top-heavy unique shape and slim-line lower floors, not to mention the harder edges that have now been softened out into something a little gentler. One of the major changes is to the top of the tower. Previously there was to be a large open conference room and a huge overhanging balcony that has been severely cut down although there still appears to be outside access from the top floor. This events room has been replaced by a multi-levelled sky garden that looks like the architect, Rafael Vinoly, has taken straight of a Ken Adams 2001 Space Odyssey set. Whether it is going to be open to the public remains to be seen because of the usual issues over security that seem to apply to London as to no other major city. Even if it remains private it should prove a stunning and lucrative location for corporate events.The new design means that the Corporation of London planning committee will have to consider it during their September meeting. With the consultation between the developer and planners and these new revisions it should prove luckier second time around.