51 Lime Street

Yards from British Land's forthcoming 122 Leadenhall Street tower and closer still to Richard Rogers' Lloyd's, 51 Lime Street occupies the site of Lloyd's '1958' building, designed by Terence Heysham. There were suggestions that the latter, an example of mannered post-war Classicism, might be listed but English Heritage subsequently ruled that it was of insufficient quality. Pre-let to insurance giant Willis, the Foster building, completed in 2007, is close to the high-rise City cluster that includes Foster's 30 St Mary Axe but is itself mid-rise in form (maximum height 125m) with 44,000sq.m (net) of office space.

Planning consent was granted after extended negotiations on the height and bulk of the development. As part of the scheme, Lime Street is to be partly pedestrianised, a benefit in both amenity and security terms and increasing the pedestrian domain around historic Leadenhall Market. The fact that this development encountered no significant planning obstacles reflects, perhaps, the preoccupation of potentially interested parties with high-rise developments in the vicinity.