London’s old City Hall, which was once famously described as a ‘glass gonad’ by the former London Mayor and PM Boris Johnson, has been sat empty since Sadiq Khan and his colleagues moved their offices to the Royal Docks in 2021. The odd-looking spherical building has been waiting for a makeover for a good few years. Now, it’s been confirmed that the massive renovation of 110 The Queen’s Walk (as it’s officially called) has been given the green light.
It was first announced in November 2023 that the building was to be transformed into a sustainable, multi-use venue. Under plans from its landlord, St Martins Property Investments, it is going to be transformed into shops, restaurants and offices, as well as have its outer glass shell removed and be replaced with balconies covered in green plants. The plans also involve extending part of the building.
Southwark Council's planning committee approved the plans in a meeting on December 10. Planning officers had already recommended the project for approval, saying it would ‘modernise’ the building and ‘bring it back into use’. Now it’s officially a-go.
But, as with most developments in London, there are some nay-sayers. Historic England said the project would cause ‘some harm, of a low level, to the significance of Tower Bridge’, adding that the extension would ‘encroach’ on the view of the bridge.
Most of the other organisations consulted on the project had no objections, with people just happy that the building would be brought back into use again.
Opened in 2002, the building was originally purpose-designed to be the Mayor’s HQ. However, in 2020 it was revealed that the building cost the Greater London Authority a whopping £11.1 million a year to run, including rent to St Martin’s, and the GLA announced a relocation to a building it owned soon after.
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