Kohn Pederson Fox's new skyscraper design for American insurance giant W.R Berkley in the City of London has been unveiled at 52-54 Lime Street.
The scheme will be 39 floors above ground with a height of 192.1 metres, that in the spirit of previous proposals should perhaps be nicknamed "the scapel" due to its look. The prismic looking scheme features full floor to ceiling glazing and approximately 58,000 square metres of floor space over 35 floors.
Floor plates for office ACCOMMODATION will be about 2,000 square metres at the lowest part of the building where the footprint is widest, a figure equivalent to half a football field, and reduce to about 900 square metres on the upper floors as it tapers.
Building services will be provided by a southern facing core, the positioning of which will help with the solar shading of the office space.
At ground level there will be landscaped space that helps slot the project into the existing area around the Willis Building that will allow for the creation of a new public space of a quarter of an acre in size. A ground floor retail outlet in the form of a café inspired by the original Lloyds Coffee House that birthed the insurance industry will bound onto the plaza providing al-fresco seating.
The proposal is just the latest tower for insurance companies in the area that is creating a financial industry cluster - Aon has taken the Leadenhall Building over the road, the Willis Group are next door in their tower, Lloyds of London stands a stones throw away, Aviva are on St Helen's and Swiss Reinsurance occupy the Gherkin.
If planning permission is awarded by the City of London, construction is expected to begin in 2013, with the development completed in 2017