User:Adhib/sandbox
{{Use British English|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox building
| name = St Botolph's Building
| image = St Botolphs Building, London.jpg
| caption = Viewed from the South, standing in the Aldgate Gyratory system, with part of St Botolph's church, Aldgate, visible to the right (April 2015)
| building_type = Office
| architectural_style = Post-modern / High-tech
| cost = £195m estimated {{cite web |url=http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/MNR2010.pdf |title=Minerva Report and Accounts 2010 |accessdate=14 April 2015}}
| location = London, United Kingdom
|status = complete
| website = {{URL|http://www.stbb.co.uk/}}
| floor_area = {{convert|49,238|m2|sqft|abbr=on}}
| floor_count = 15
| completion_date = December 2010
| opened_date = 2011
| demolition_date =
| architect = Grimshaw_Architects
| structural_engineer = Arup
accessdate=15 April 2015}}
}}
138 Houndsditch is an address on Houndsditch in London where the St Botolph's Building is located. The commercial office, opened in January 2011, is designed by Grimshaw Architects.
It is one of a number of landmark buildings recently delivered or in development to the East of the Gherkin in the City of London ward of Aldgate, which together with the wards of Langbourn, Cornhill and Lime Street forms the centre of the UK insurance industry.
Two of the three main tenants are businesses with a substantial insurance broking component, which are therefore reliant on close proximity to the Lloyd's building and the globally-significant London market in insurance contracts that focuses on Lloyd's of London{{Cite web |title=London Insurance and Reinsurance market |url=http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-london-insurance-and-reinsurance-market |publisher=Gresham.ac.uk |accessdate=15 April 2015}}.
History
The previous building occupying the majority of the site was a modern municipal-style {{cite web |url=http://www.willfox.com/images/skyscrapers/city/minerva_site5.jpg |title=Will Fox photography |work=Will Fox |accessdate=15 April 2015}} office block owned by the Post Office / British Telecom with some mixed-use street level retail units including banks, a betting shop and a Thai Restaurant{{cite web |url=https://www1.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/our_services/development_planning/planning_apps/register/data/38/3829.4.htm |title=Extract from the planning register |work=Corporation of London |accessdate=15 April 2015}}.
Planning permission was initially granted in 1999. Developers Minerva went on to submit two further plans for the site{{cite web |url=http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=253109 |title=}}, city's largest tower, also designed by Grimshaw Architects{{cite web |url=http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/minerva/ |work=designbuild-network.com |accessdate=15 April 2015 |title=Minerva Building, London UK}}. This tower was rejected, and the original permissions revived in 2006{{cite web|url=http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=4964 |title=SkyScraperNews.com |accessdate=15 April 2015}}, with some revisions.
The St Botolph's Building
Designed by Grimshaw Architects and developed by Minerva plc with Skanska as main contractor, the Building is notable for the blue glass spandrels, pre-fabricated escape cores and a central atrium dominated by a steel structure on which a "TWIN" lift systems runs 16 lifts on eight tracks, a rare solution in the UK. The building's creative use of structural steel has been awarded by industry bodies{{Cite web |url=http://www.steelconstruction.info/St_Botolph_Building,_London |title=Structural Steel Design Awards 2011 - Commendation |accessdate=15 April 2015}}.
Grimshaw Architects report that the brief was to create "a landmark building of significant architectural merit on a site that forms a key gateway to the City of London"{{cite web |url=http://grimshaw-architects.com/project/the-st-botolph-building/ |title=The St Botolph Building, London |accessdate=15 April 2015}}.
The building's design and management processes include waste management and 'biomatics' to deliver a "zero to landfill" policy. Lighting throughout uses techniques including proximity detection to minimise unnecessary energy use{{cite web |url=http://www.illumni.co/speirs-major-light-st-botolphs-building/ |title=Speirs and Major Light St Botolph's Building |accessdate=15 April 2015}}. According to the property's managing agents CBRE, the Building has "achieved a BREEAM Very Good rating through its many sustainable design features"{{cite web |url=http://green-perspective.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/waste-not-want-not-at-st-botolphs.html |title=Waste Not, Want Not at St Botolph's |accessdate=15 April 2015}}. The City of London's Clean City Awards programme granted the building Gold Award status in January 2015{{cite web |url=http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/environment-and-planning/waste-and-recycling/commercial-waste-and-recycling/clean-city-awards/Documents/ccas-booklet-2014.pdf |title=2014 Clean City Awards pdf (p10) |accessdate=15 April 2015}}.
Tenancy
The developer faced some controversy {{cite web |url=http://fr.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE6AA05J20101111 |title=Minerva quiet on London leases, shares tumble}} for its strategy of releasing 100,000+ square foot properties onto a depressed market following the Credit Crunch, but full occupancy was confirmed by 2012{{cite web |url=http://www.buildington.co.uk/buildings/london_ec3/138_houndsditch/st_botolph_building/id/3503 |title=St Botolph Building |accessdate=15 April 2015}}. The top three floors are let to law firm Clyde_%26_Co, floors 9-3 let to insurance brokers Jardine Lloyd Thompson and floors 1 & 2 to insurance brokers Locktons.
Additionally the street level houses mixed units including a coffee bar, a gym club and a metro supermarket space, all three let and with tenants trading with both building inhabitants and the general public. Total rental yield is estimated at £30m per annum.
The developer sold the freehold for £460m in 2013 {{cite web |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/16bn-of-foreign-cash-floods-into-londons-booming-commercial-sector-9033175.html |title=£16bn foreign cash floods into London's booming commercial sector |work=The Independent |accessdate=15 April 2015}}
See also
{{Portal|London|Architecture}}
{{commons category|138 Houndsditch}}
{{coord|51.514822|-0.077116|display=title|region:GB_scale:2000}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{London landmarks}}
{{Major Development Projects in London}}