A complete rework of a postmodern office building situated at the heart of the traditional prime core of the City of London.

60 London Wall, a previously tired and outdated office building has been extensively refurbished, reconfigured, reinvented and repositioned to create a high-quality office designed for a diverse set of occupiers positioned to make the City of London their new home.

As advocates for retrofit, EPR Architects together with Structural Engineers, Heyne Tillett Steel and LaSalle, felt that there was an opportunity to bring the building back to life whilst preserving much of its original structure. As part of the designs, the steel frame has been retained whilst providing extensive new office space arranged over large adaptable upper floor plates, centred around a communal atrium.

Stripping the building back to the frame, the existing seven-storey structure has been redeveloped with a five-storey addition, increasing the building height to eleven storeys.

The new façades are elegantly finished with a contemporary palette responding to the rich, historical context. Increased glazing greatly improves natural light onto the floorplates whilst vertical stone brise soleil creates a solidity when viewed along London Wall, reducing solar gain.

The upper floors consist of curvilinear glazed façades, addressing the five levels of accessible greened terraces. These planted terraces with views onto the adjacent Finsbury Circus and St Pauls, provide sky gardens to be used as part of the workplace and for the wellbeing of the office occupants.

Designed with sustainability at its core, 60 London Wall has achieved a BREEAM rating of Outstanding. From the outset, the team’s ambition was to drastically improve the building’s environmental credentials through thermal performance, passive design and the reuse of the existing structure; 8,600 tonnes of carbon have been retained. The embodied carbon of the structural elements has been measured at 193 kgco2e/m2, sitting well within the LETI 2030 carbon target and just above 2030 targets.

“The project has been a great example of collaboration between architect and engineer. Designing a contemporary office building within the City of London, which also sits well within sustainability targets, is an astonishing achievement and one we are immensely proud of. The history of the building combined with our new design elements create a unique aesthetic that would not have been possible under new build construction. We are thrilled to have safeguarded and re-used the existing structure whilst creating a quality space with a high standard of finish befitting an office in the heart of the City.”

Jason Balls, Main Board Director, EPR Architects