Opponents of Fletcher Priest’s City tower complain ‘it’s less refined than Walkie Talkie’
By Dave Rogers
2020-11-19T07:00:00
Southwark council joins objectors to 32-storey tower proposed for 55 Gracechurch Street
Fresh objections have been made against Fletcher Priest’s proposals for a 32-storey tower in the City of London, with Southwark council complaining it is not as attractive as its neighbour, the Walkie Talkie.
The argument will surprise those who complained that Rafael Vinoly’s bulbous 20 Fenchurch Street offices should never have been approved. Nicknamed the Walkie Scorchie after sunrays bouncing off its curved facade melted part of a car, it has also been criticised for strengthening gusts of winds at street level, and won the Carbuncle Cup in 2015.
The City Corporation’s decision to approve it was confirmed by the communities secretary after a public inquiry which said the harm to the skyline caused by its shape and distance from the main eastern cluster of towers would be balanced by the provision of a semi-public “sky garden”.
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