Plans have been unveiled for a "skinny Shard" in London's Paddington area. Designed by Renzo Piano, the 65-story skyscraper is the focus of a £1 billion plan aimed at revitalizing the "soulless" district.
"At the moment you only go to Paddington for two reasons - to catch a train or to see someone in hospital. It is soulless and has no life and yet it is only five minutes from Hyde Park and seven or eight minutes from Marble Arch," Sellar Property Group chairman Irvine Sellar told Evening Standard. "It is a fantastic location but it is stuck in a Fifties time-warp. We intend to create a place for people to go, where they will want to live, work, eat and shop."
The "light and crystal-type tower," as Sellar described, will offer more than 200 apartments, offices, retail, restaurants and a public roof garden. If approved, it will be London's fourth tallest building alongside Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners’ Cheesegrater and behind The Shard, One Canada Square and 110 Bishopsgate. It's slated to rise 224-meters on a single acre site at 31 London Street by 2020.
“The current public realm in Paddington is poor, with congestion in and around the entrance to the Bakerloo line leading to frequent closures. This scheme looks to remedy those issues, while creating a wonderful sense of place which Paddington greatly needs," added Piano.
Piano was also recently granted planning permission for a new residential tower neighboring The Shard.
News via Evening Standard, BDOnline
