How Tuesday to Thursday workers are changing London skyscrapers

Visit London's Square Mile on a Monday or a Friday and you are likely to find tumbleweeds. Sandwich shops are closed and there are few office workers on the streets. 

Hybrid working remains the norm in the City of London despite a push to get staff back to the office more regularly and the effects of this part-time boycott on the Square Mile are clear to see.

So prevalent is the so-called “TWaT” (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) working schedule that CityAM, the daily freesheet for finance professionals, earlier this month cancelled its Friday edition for lack of readers.

While businesses like these can adapt, changing the city’s architecture is more difficult. Skyscrapers and office blocks remain even when workers are not there.

With many desks now empty for the majority of the week, you might think developers would shy away from throwing up new blocks. But no. Two planning applications for new skyscrapers were submitted to The City of London Corporation at the end of last year and six new buildings have received approval in the last two years. Construction has begun on two of them already.

What has changed, however, is what is in these buildings. 

“Increasingly there is a desire for quality, sustainable, tech-enabled buildings; and bespoke ‘experiential’ offices which, post-pandemic, employees actually enjoy coming to work in,” says Shravan Joshi, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee.

More and more outlandish features are cropping up in planning documents including floors dedicated to pets, allotments for fresh food, and spas with views out over the city. These sit alongside bars and restaurants, casinos, gyms, clubs, dry cleaning facilities, residential space, shops — oh, and some desks.

“The City wants to make London a 24/7 playground,” a leading planning consultant said. “They don’t want people to work in skyscrapers and play elsewhere and that is why the nature of design is changing.” 

Plans for a 285 metre skyscraper at 55 Bishopsgate in the City of London were submitted at the end of last year. At 100 metres taller than the Gherkin and 50 metres taller than Canary Wharf’s tallest building, One Canada Square, it will be one of the tallest buildings in London if approved.

While the new building will have some office space, there will also be a public viewing gallery, exhibition and performance space, a “secret” garden, shopping areas, and restaurants and bars. It will also have a conservatory featuring a 360-degree viewing platform surrounded by large plants and plant walls. 

“As working patterns continue to evolve, so to [sic] do businesses and the space they need,” developers write in the planning application. “There is an increasing need to provide a range of amenities and services not limited to just work functions.”

The public will be treated to “a rich programme of cultural experiences, combined with incredible views across London,” they promise.

New skyscrapers are looking to mimic Las Vegas hotel designs, where business, leisure, socialising and resting can be done in one location. London has largely lagged behind rival cities such as New York or Hong Kong in this respect. 

“The design of our tall buildings are more consistent with buildings in Paris but are quite different from those in the Far East or New York,” said Rob Samuel, UK head of development at AXA IM Alts, which is funding a future skyscraper at 50 Fenchurch Street. “Their skyscrapers go higher and can have offices, hotels, apartments all in one building.”

High rise living in London is typically associated with down-at-heel councils blocks, whereas in New York it is often a luxury. Billionaires’ Row, overlooking Central Park, houses eight ultra-luxury residential skyscrapers in Manhattan where apartments can sell for up to $150m.

However, housing blocks above 100 metres are unlikely to adorn the central London skyline anytime soon. Planning rules mean 10pc of any housing development is expected to be affordable, which could be a challenge in city centres. 

Brits are also simply less inclined to want to live in a tower block, however luxurious.

"People here don’t particularly want to live in tall buildings and developers need to be more innovative so we make those buildings more viable," says Katrina Kostic Samen, head of workplace, strategy & design at Savills.

“In London, we need to change how we look at skyscrapers."

Rather than lots of apartments, new towers in the Square Mile will feature experiences that will draw in visitors outside of office hours.

The Shard, the tallest building in western Europe, was a pioneer in this respect. When it was opened in 2012, the building, near London Bridge, housed office space alongside high-end restaurants and bars, the five-star hotel Shangri-La and a viewing platform. Stand outside of an evening and you are as likely to see supercars as you are commuters.

Other developments since then have taken a leaf out of The Shard’s book. The Walkie Talkie, near Cannon Street, houses London’s tallest public garden, giving people a reason to visit outside of office hours.

Behind the continued push to build is a desire to sell. Skyscrapers in London may differ from those abroad but they are still trophy assets for overseas investors. 

“London remains a key target destination for global capital as demonstrated by the five largest office investment deals of 2022, all of which were to overseas investors,” says Felix Rabeneck, central London investment director at Savills.

Overseas investors already own a huge stake of London’s tall buildings: The Shard is primarily owned by Qatar, the Gherkin is owned by Brazil's Safra family and the Walkie Talkie tower is owned by Hong Kong food conglomerate Lee Kum Kee.

Last year the US topped the charts for London commercial property investment, putting in around £4.6bn, followed by Singapore at £2.4bn and South Korea at £1.6bn. A total of over £13bn of overseas investment went into London commercial property.

Joshi said: “International investors remain confident that the City’s office market will remain resilient in the face of challenging economic headwinds.”

The continued push to build is also being driven by demand from companies: while offices are not the force they once were, businesses still need them and they want them to be green.

“There is also a far greater emphasis on environmental concerns, critically, led by both the City and occupiers who want to bring their workforce back to buildings with best-in-class sustainability credentials,” Joshi says.

Developers are incorporating wood into parts of their new skyscrapers in some cases and placing plants throughout to improve air quality. Measures like these are all meant to boost green credentials and attract tenants.

Joshi and the City of London are only too happy to see projects like these. Last May the Corporation launched its “Destination City” policy to “boost the vibrancy” of the Square Mile and ensure people keep visiting beyond just commutes, largely in response to the fact workers had deserted the streets during the pandemic.

“There’s an inherent understanding that the City cannot stand still if it wants to further enhance its position as a global financial hub,” Joshi says.