More London

The More London project has been a major engine of change for Southwark. Partners of the practice were closely involved in the development of Foster + Partners' masterplan, which supplanted a number of unrealised proposals for the long-derelict site (between London Bridge and Tower Bridge) extending back into the 1980s, when it was in another ownership. The aim of the Foster masterplan was to create a new business district with the addition of shops, restaurants and large areas of public space. The decision to locate City Hall, the headquarters of the Mayor and the GLA, on the site was a considerable coup, as was the letting of a large office building to Ernst & Young – More London offers Citystandard offices on the south bank of the Thames and a number of other City firms have subsequently located there.

All the office buildings have been designed by Foster + Partners, with a hotel by Jestico & Whiles. Hawkins Brown is currently working on a mix of refurbishment and new build on the retained terrace at the east end of Tooley Street, close to Keith Williams' Unicorn Theatre. Beyond City Hall, a new public park, designed by West 8, with a pavilion by Deborah Saunt of DSDHA, has been completed, forming a link to the dynamic Butler's Wharf quarter east of Tower Bridge. The expansion of More London beyond the 112,000sq.m of space originally consented has been achieved in close consultation with Southwark, the GLA, CABE, English Heritage and other bodies and has produced a new urban district which is about much more than office space.