McLaren wins £90m race to revamp Islington landmark

McLaren has picked up a £90m scheme to rework a postmodern landmark in Islington, north London.

The proposals, designed for US investor Tishman Speyer, will see the building’s external features, which include an Italianate campanile-style clock tower, stripped away and replaced with a glass facade.

Plans by AHMM to transform the early 90s Angel Square development, which was designed by Rock Townsend Architects, were last September.

McLaren, which has won a string of jobs recently, has beaten remaining bidder Multiplex after an after earlier pitched from Skanska was tailed off.

Angel Square’s current three blocks provide 15,000 sq m of office space and a pub, on the corner of Torrens Street and City Road. The building also includes the entrance to Angel Station on London Underground’s Northern line.

The plans propose adding new storeys and increasing the office floorspace by around 7,000 sq m.

Scaffolding is already going up around the site and others working on the scheme include T&T as project manager, Core 5 as QS, AKT II as structural engineer and ChapmanBDSP as M&E consultant.

Last month, Building revealed that Multiplex was closing in on a £200m scheme to give a 1980s office in the City of London a makeover under plans drawn up by Fletcher Priest Architects.