Construction started in May on the 40-storey 100 Bishopsgate tower in London, a new office building developed by Brookfield Office Properties and Great Portland Estates PLC. Located in the financial district known simply as The City, the tower joins a number of other highrises nearby that have reshaped the skyline of the global metropolis. Now, following demolition of existing office buildings on the site, a tenant for the first seven floors of the building has been announced. 

100 Bishopsgate, image courtesy of Allies and Morrison

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has signed a 25-year lease and will occupy 250,000 square feet of space. Brookfield has secured several tenants across their newest London properties, like Amazon for Principal Place, which add up to 1.25 million square feet of office space over the past year.

100 Bishopsgate, image courtesy of Allies and Morrison

The design by Allies and Morrison and Arney Fender Katsalidis features a glass facade pulled outwards at the bottom podium levels to create a parallelogram. This results in a much larger floor plate for the first five storeys, which come in at 44,000 square feet each. The 172-metre building tapers inwards as it climbs and the floor plate becomes a more traditional rectangular shape. The development will also include a retail and restaurant component housed in a second eight-storey building. A half-acre of public space will be provided in the middle of the site.

Former office buildings on site, July 2008, image retrieved from Google Street View

Brookfield commenced construction on the $1.6-billion development without first securing a tenant, something the largest office developer in the world has never done before. The bold move demonstrated their confidence in the market, where City vacancy rates hover around 5.4 percent, the lowest they've been in nearly ten years. 

May 2015 capture of construction, image retrieved from Google Street View

The project is scheduled for completion in 2018. Until then, share your photos in the Forum by visiting the Database link below. There, you can also find more information and images of the development. 

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