Image | 700-year-old church tower on stilts as office block built around it

Contractor Multiplex is the main works contractor for Fifty Fenchurch Street development, for investment firm AXA IM Alts.

Demolition specialist Keltbray undertook demolition of existing buildings on the site, as well as bulk excavation of three levels below ground, piling, and enabling work. It is also responsible for protection of the Grade-II-listed church tower.

The Tower of All Hallows Staining (circa AD 1320) is currently supported on a temporary structural stilt system (grillage), 45 feet (14 metres) above the bottom of the construction site.

More than 125,000 tonnes of earth have been removed underneath the church to accommodate the 650,000 sq ft (60,400 sq m) office development.

The new scheme, designed by Eric Parry Architects with Arup as lead engineer, seeks to preserve the tower. Another Grade II-listed structure, Lambe’s Chapel Crypt has been carefully removed prior to later installation beneath the office tower.

The development itself is targeting being one of the UK’s most sustainable high-rise office buildings, with a BREEAM Outstanding rating and net zero in operation.

It will feature “vertical landscaping”, including internal and external gardens with more than 40 planted balconies and terraces. Meanwhile, the church tower will form the centrepiece of a new public gardens.

The new building will also incorporate a new Livery Hall for The Clothworkers’ Company, an almost 500-year-old organisation.

The scheme is scheduled for completion in 2028.

To mark the completion of bulk excavation, the project team held a “bottoming out” ceremony attended by London’s Deputy Mayor Howard Dawber and Tom Sleigh, chair of the City of London Corporation’s Planning & Transportation Committee.

The 700-year-old Tower of All Hallows Staining, suspended above a 60,000 sq ft excavation (Image: Owen Bilcliffe)