Puneet Varma (Editor)

South Bank Tower

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Former names
  
King's Reach Tower

Type
  
Mixed Use

Height
  
107 m

Opened
  
1978

Architecture firm
  
Kohn Pedersen Fox

Status
  
In Construction

Location
  
London, United Kingdom

Floors
  
30

Floor area
  
3 ha

Architect
  
Richard Seifert

South Bank Tower southbanktowercomwpcontentuploads2014102448

Completed
  
2015 (original tower constructed 1972)

Roof
  
151 metres (495 ft) (original tower 111 metres (364 ft))

Similar
  
One Nine Elms, 100 Bishopsgate, St George Wharf Tower, Tower 42, 22 Bishopsgate

James kingston jumps insane gap to hang off 150m high south bank tower crane on the edge ep 2


South Bank Tower (formerly King's Reach Tower until 2013) is a high-rise building in Stamford Street, Southwark, London. It was originally a thirty storey structure 111 metres (364 ft) high and was completed in 1972, designed by the architect Richard Seifert and built by John Laing Construction Limited. In recent years, the tower has undergone extensive redevelopment and a height increase.

Contents

Map of South Bank Tower, London, UK

The tower is similar in design to Tower 42, which was designed by the same architect.

South bank tower hanover square


Previous tenants

The tower was the headquarters of IPC Media, one of the biggest publishing companies in Europe. In the late 1970s, the tower became part of the mythos surrounding the British comic 2000 AD, published by IPC, and the building was depicted as home to the 'Nerve Centre' of its alien editor, Tharg. IPC moved to the Blue Fin Building in nearby Bankside in 2007.

Redevelopment

In February 2005 the then owners Capital & Counties Properties applied for planning permission with a design by MAKE Architects to remodel the tower by extending it to 34 floors along with replacement buildings for the T-shaped building at its base. Permission was granted in July 2005. However no redevelopment took place.

Capital and Counties sold the property to Simon Halabi's Buckingham Securities in 2006 for a reported £80m.

As part of their joint venture, CIT and Jadwa Investment purchased the property for £60m in 2010. In July 2011 CIT was awarded planning permission to convert the building to residential use along with additional mixed uses. The redevelopment of the building commenced in January 2013. Six new floors were originally planned to be added to the tower, increasing its height to around 128.4 metres (421 ft). The new tower was to house 173 apartments, with retail units to be built around the base and the existing podium building increased in height and transformed into new office space.

In mid 2013, CIT requested permission to increase the tower's height by a further 5 floors (bringing the total to 11) which would bring the tower to 155 metres (509 ft). 18 additional apartments would be made available with this increase. The plans were approved by Southwark councillors on 16 July 2013.

In September 2012 the joint venture secured £250m of funding from a consortium of Middle Eastern financial institutions.

References

South Bank Tower Wikipedia