Architects office HOK has unveiled plans to build the tallest residential skyscraper in Western Europe in East London.
Spire London will stand at 234 metres tall and will segregate private and social apartments, and will become the tallest residential building in the UK and Western Europe according to its developer, Chinese firm Greenland Group.
Earlier in the week, plans for the £800 million tower were unveiled, days after a survey showed that residents of the capital want restrictions on the height of buildings constructed in the city in the future.
The tower will feature 861 apartments spread across 67 storeys, and will be built on a site overlooking the West India Quay near Canary Wharf in East London.
The team behind the project says that the design is based on “the nautical history of the dock site and by the orchid, a flower cultivated in China for more than 3,000 years.”
HOK’s design is made up to three glass ‘petals’ that are shaped to suggest the bow and prow of a ship.
An angled roof will create terraces for the apartment on the upper levels, while louvres will offer natural ventilation.
From the eighth floor and above, private apartments ranging from 50 to 150 sq m in area will be housed, with nine dedicated lifts, as well as access to a spa with a swimming pool, a bar and a cinema.
The lower levels will feature social housing, with residents given access through a separate entrance.
The second and third floors will contain shared facilities like meeting rooms, a games room, music rooms or cultural spaces, as well as an outdoor deck for residents.
A pair of three-storey retail buildings on either side of the tower will also be topped with private roof gardens for the tower’s occupants.
Spire London is due to be completed in 2020, with construction work set to begin in January 2017.
