20 Fenchurch Street is a skyscraper under construction on Fenchurch Street in London. It has been nicknamed the Walkie-Talkie because of its shape. Upon completion in summer 2014 the building will be 160 m (525 ft) tall, with 36 storeys.
Costing over £200 million, it is designed by architect Rafael Viñoly and will feature a highly distinctive, top-heavy form which appears to burst upward and outward. A large viewing deck and 'sky gardens' will be included on the top floor; these will be open to the public.
The tower was originally proposed at nearly 200 metres tall, but was scaled down after concerns about its visual impact on St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London. It was subsequently approved in November 2006. Even after the height reduction there were continued concerns from heritage groups about its impact on the surrounding area. The project was subsequently the subject of a public inquiry. In July 2007, this ruled in the developers' favour, and the building was granted full planning permission.
In their preliminary results for 2007, developer Land Securities said 20 Fenchurch Street would be completed in 2011, however in 2009 this date was pushed back to 2014.
It is one of a number of new tall buildings for the City of London area; others include the Heron Tower, The Pinnacle and the Leadenhall Building. Three insurance companies, Markel Corporation, Kiln Group and Ascot Underwriting, have agreed to become tenants of 20 Fenchurch Street upon its opening.
Read more about 20 Fenchurch Street: Previous Building, Design, Construction, Tenancy
Famous quotes containing the word street:
“If the street life, not the Whitechapel street life, but that of the common but so-called respectable part of town is in any city more gloomy, more ugly, more grimy, more cruel than in London, I certainly don’t care to see it. Sometimes it occurs to one that possibly all the failures of this generation, the world over, have been suddenly swept into London, for the streets are a restless, breathing, malodorous pageant of the seedy of all nations.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)