Iconic London tower is being carved into £1BILLION ‘Swiss Cheese’ hotel with terraces, restaurants & panoramic rooftop
AN ICONIC London tower is being carved into a £1billion “Swiss Cheese” hotel as plans are unveiled for major refurbishment.
New terraces, restaurants, office spaces and panoramic views of the city are all part of the plans.
The HSBC Tower, located in London’s Canary Wharf, is set to undergo a major refurbishment next year, as its current occupants relocate to the city.
Plans for the refurbishment of the 45-storey tower have been submitted to Tower Hamlets Council by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Canary Wharf Group (CWG).
The revamp will be led by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) and reports indicate it is set to cost between £800,000,000 and £1,000,000,000.
Proposals for the building will see sections of the tower’s higher floors cut away to create a series of terraces, creating the appearance of holes which have landed the building with the Swiss cheese comparison.
Designs for the tower will also see it move from a single-occupant space, instead paving the way for multiple uses throughout the building.
Starting from the bottom, the lower and ground floors will be transformed into an 181-room hotel and leisure facilities.
It will also see the addition of a brand new public walkway that crosses through the ground floor to link the Elizabeth Line Station with nearby Canada Square Park.
Middle floors will be reserved for office spaces, designed to house multiple corporate tenants, with asset management company BlackRock reportedly eyeing the space, according to The Banker.
Staggered terraces will be a main feature of the top floor, as well as a huge glass box called “The Cloud”, functioning as an entertainment space with restaurants and bars and boasting panoramic views of the city.
In a statement posted to the CWG website, CEO Shobi Khan said: “We look forward to working with QIA on 8 Canada Square to deliver a building of outstanding design, engineering and sustainability standards.
“This redevelopment is another step in Canary Wharf’s evolution into a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood offering workspace, retail, homes, leisure and amenities all in one location – a true 15-minute city.”
Elie Gamburg from Kohn Pedersen Fox said: “We are extremely excited to collaborate with QIA and CWG to reimagine the single-use office building as a blueprint for the highly sustainable, mixed-use building of the future.
“This transformation embodies the ethos behind much of our work, we see it as an integral part of the evolution of today’s single-use neighbourhoods into vibrant mixed-use neighbourhoods of tomorrow – an evolution of which CWG is already leading the way.”