Office 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

Podium building JLP01_10_06299

WD AND HO WILLS, WHITCHURCH LANE, CITY OF BRISTOL. The podium building, bridging the artificial lake, and the office block above it at the Wills tobacco factory at Hartcliffe, Bristol.
Both the office building and the factory itself were constructed from Cor-Ten steel frames, Cor-Ten steel was pre-weathered to produce a russet brown patina which would in theory harmonise with the landscaping. The use of Cor-Ten steel for the bold exposed frame of the office building is given as one of the principal justifications awarding it Grade II listed status in May 2000. The building was converted into flats in around 2007 whilst the factory itself had been demolished in 1999.
The podium building that the office block sits above housed various amenities for the factory employees, shops, restaurants and even a cinema. This was in response to a survey that Wills undertook and to compensate for the out of town location of the new factory compared to the Southville and Bedminster sites that it replaced

© 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