According to the Financial Times, US bank Citigroup is on course to spend more than £1bn on the refurbishment of its 42-storey tower at 25 Canada Square in London’s Canary Wharf.
When Morgan Sindall subsidiary Overbury was awarded the contract for the work in 2021, Barbour ABI put the contract value at £300m. When work finally started on site in July 2023 it was expected to be completed in 2025. Completion is now expected sometime next year.
The 200-metre high tower block, designed by César Pelli & Associates, was only built 23 years ago and is already deemed an anachronism for the 9,000 employees expected to work within it. Citi even considered knocking it down and starting again but decided that refurbishment was the more ecological option.
Believed to currently be the largest active commercial retrofit project in Europe, the scheme has been designed by WilkinsonEyre with support from engineer Buro Happold and cost consultant Turner & Townsend.
Burpo Happold describes the scope of the project on its website: “Existing slabs will be partially removed to allow double and triple height internal atria and winter garden spaces. ‘Villages’ will be created, where teams can work together, encouraging comfortable and engaging collaboration.
“New large format facades will include operable glazed elements to allow for natural ventilation and complement the new spaces. The retrofit will advertise and exemplify modern working styles and respond through the tower’s eye-catching facades, giving both an externally-facing message that the organisation is ahead of the curve, but also an internal message, with internal facades reflecting and showcasing changing attitudes towards working environments for Citi’s own teams.”
