Plans for “Biophilic” London Tower Submitted

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) has submitted plans for a 24-story office building in the City of London, which the architect said “tackled head-on” the challenge of meeting net zero, Building reported in August. The 116-m, 66,867-m² building will contain a variety of office spaces above retail and community uses and will have four basement levels. Rather than “another hermetically sealed building,” the scheme would have “access to biophilia” on every floor and “industry-leading quantities of fresh air,” said AHMM co-founder Simon Allford. The project is targeting BREEAM Outstanding, WELL Platinum, and LEED Platinum certifications. Targets have been set for embodied carbon and operational energy density that “significantly exceed” the city’s policy for the urban greening factor, targeting 0.53, compared with an existing rating onsite of 0.0. Work is expected to start in 2023, subject to planning.