Three storeys cuts from SOM-designed plans to replace Barbican headquarters of Linklaters while facades are redesigned
Lipton Rogers has been forced to redesign its plans to replace the London headquarters of law firm Linklaters with two office towers after bowing to a significant backlash from residents of nearby buildings.
The developer has submitted a revised application for the SOM-designed 1 Silk Street site next to the Barbican, cutting three storeys from the tallest building and removing some of the scheme’s outdoor terraces.
It has also sought to blend in the scheme to surrounding buildings by amending its facades and has realigned the footprint of the western part of the buildings to create a new plaza opposite the main entrance of the Barbican.
SOM has been retained as the lead architect on the revised buildings, which will contain around 5% less office space compared to the original 91,000sq m scheme submitted in June last year.
The changes come after more than 1,000 people posted objections to the scheme’s planning application with high-profile architects including Stirling Prize-winner Amanda Levete and Caruso St John co-founder Adam Caruso among those opposing the plans.
The proposals were also widely criticised by heritage groups for being too large and overshadowing the neighbouring grade II-listed Barbican estate, with Historic England, the Twentieth Century Society and Save Britain’s Heritage all objecting to the scheme.
Lipton Rogers and its development partner LaSalle Investment Management said the amendments “respond directly to feedback received during the consultation process while reinforcing the project’s core vision”.
Stuart Lipton, founding partner of Lipton Rogers Developments, said: “In listening carefully to feedback received, the revised scheme designed by SOM is more modest in scale, while more ambitious in public benefits.”
He added that the revised scheme “opens itself to the community, enriches the cultural fabric of the Square Mile and delivers clear improvements for Silk Street and its surroundings.”
Gary Moore, head of International Accounts, Europe at LaSalle Investment Management, said: “The revised proposals for 1 Silk Street reflect our continued commitment to listening carefully to residents and investing in the City of London’s future.
“While the scheme has evolved in response to feedback, our ambition remains unchanged – to deliver a high-quality, future-focused commercial building that reinforces the City’s position as a globally competitive financial district, whilst strengthening culture and the public experience in the Square Mile.”
Other changes to the design include the addition of obscured glass panels to parts of the facade to limit views into nearby properties, fins on the exterior of the building to divert sightlines and automatic blinds that lower at dusk to minimise light pollution. More than 300m of new active retail frontage has also been added to the scheme’s ground floor levels.
Levete, whose Future Systems-designed Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Groud was awarded the Stirling Prize in 1999, criticised the original proposals as “completely inappropriate” for the City fringe site and described the design as “average”.
Only nine people posted letters of support for the scheme with its handful of backers including Jessica and Elliott Pycroft, the children of former Mace chairman Steve Pycroft, who argued the scheme represented a “forward-looking response to the evolving needs of the City of London”.
The project team also includes T&T Alinea on costs, Arup on MEP, DP9 on planning, Donald Insall Associates on heritage, Montagu Evans on townscape and Kanda on public consultation.
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