CIT has submitted plans to the City of London for a 12-storey extension to an existing 16-storey office building – Finsbury Tower – situated on Bunhill Row, EC1, close to Old Street Roundabout.
The private equity investor recently completed a similar scheme, the Southbank Tower, SE1, where it added 11 floors on top of an existing 30-storey tower. The project engineer of that scheme claimed it was the first time such an ambitious extension had been attempted. When complete, Finsbury Tower will rise from 16 storeys and 79m in height to 28 storeys and 124m.
Equally the uplift in office space will result in an extra 12,687 sq m (136,562 sq ft), a total of 33,524 sq m. Included within that total will be 1,000 sq m of affordable workspace. The space, designed for small- and medium-sized businesses, would be handed to the council as a head lessee and will be offered at a peppercorn rate in perpetuity.
The new scheme will be car free, a reduction from the 85 spaces currently on offer. More than 500 cycle parking spaces will also be provided.
Twenty-five affordable homes are also planned in a six-storey standalone building, all for the social rent tenure. A total of 1,326 sq m of retail space is also included. The architect is Horden Cherry Lee and the agent is DP9.
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