Status Demolished Construction started 1970 Roof 100 m (328 ft) Height 100 m Opened 1976 Architecture firm T P Bennett Architects | Completed 1976 Floor count 25 Floors 25 Destruction date 2008 Architect Thomas Bennett | |
 | ||
Similar | ||
Southwark Towers was a high rise building at 32 London Bridge Street, designed by TP Bennett architects, overlooking London Bridge station, in Southwark, London. When it was demolished in 2008 it was the tallest building ever to have been demolished in the UK.
History
Completed in 1975, it was 100 metres tall and had 25 floors in three wings. Southwark Towers was formerly the London office of Price Waterhouse before it merged with Coopers & Lybrand in 1998. The property attracted some political interest in the 1970s when the developer, Peachey Property Corporation ('PPC'), got into financial difficulties and it was subsequently alleged that the transaction to develop the property might not have been entered into on an arm's length basis and that there might have been an element of bounty or kindness from PPC to Price Waterhouse, who happened to be PPC's auditors. Department of Trade inspectors dismissed the allegations. In 1998 the building was acquired by Irvine Sellar, a property developer.
In 2008 the building was demolished to make way for The Shard. The common way to demolish a building in the United Kingdom is by implosion, but due to the building being surrounded by other buildings and the nearby Guy's Hospital, the building was instead taken apart in pieces. It was the tallest building ever to have been demolished in the UK.
