1990s Gallery

Atrium floor JLP01_09_920256

Vintners Place, Upper Thames Street, Queenhithe, City of London. An elevated view looking through the archway at the north end of the galleria at Vintners Place showing the marble floor of the open atrium.
Laing undertook the £79m management contract for the construction of a 37,000sqm high quality office development at Vintners Place between March 1989 and December 1992. Work on site began in June 1989 with the demolition of 10 buildings including Vintry House and Kennet Wharf on the riverside. The listed facade of Thames House along Queen Street Place was preserved and incorporated into the development. The project was the first within the City of London in modern times permitted to reclaim land from the Thames foreshore for its riverside facade. Vintners Place won an Interiors Special Award at the 1993 Natural Stone Awards for the variety in the design and types of marble used for the floors. They incorporated designs from St Peter's and other churches designed by Bernini in Rome

© Historic England Archive

The Helicon JLP01_10_61486

The Helicon, South Place, Finsbury Pavement, Islington, Greater London. A view towards the ceiling from the ground floor of the glazed central atrium at the Helicon building, Finsbury Pavement, London.
The Helicon was named after the sacred mountain of the muses in Greek mythology and in reference to a bookshop called Temple of the Muses that previously occupied part of the site. Laing began work on the foundations in May 1994 and the project was complete by June 1996. The building is divided between office and retail space, the lower 3 floors are occupied by Marks and Spencer whilst the 6 above are office accommodation. Designed to maximise natural light and be energy efficient the triple glazed curtain walls are vented in summer to allow cooling through air circulation and closed in winter to provide insulation. An automated system of metal louvres within the curtain wall close and open in response to the sun to regulate temperatures inside the building. The post-tension technique of construction of the concrete frame allowed the size of the columns and depth of floor slabs to be reduced and maximise usable floor space. The building won a CONSTRUCT Award for Innovation and Best Practice in 2000. The photograph was taken on the day the completed building was handed over to the client

© Historic England Archive

Jubilee Line depot JLP01_11_61523_02

Stratford Market Depot, Stratford, Newham, Greater London. One of the new Jubilee Line underground tube trains (96003), standing on the tracks of one of the eleven maintenance bays inside the main shed at Stratford Market Depot.
Construction on the Stratford Market Depot was carried out by Laing London, with work starting on the 35 acre site in November 1993. The train depot, designed by architects Wilkinson Eyre, was built as part of the Jubilee Line Extension running from Green Park to Stratford and was where trains would be maintained and serviced. The shed which is a skewed parallelogram shaped structure, measuring 100m x 190m, had the space capacity to accommodate almost half the fleet, including 59 new six-car trains, with the first of the new trains arriving at the shed on 11th December 1996

© Historic England Archive