City Hall, Southwark

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City Hall

Surrey


City Hall
Type: Civic centre
Location
Grid reference: TQ33458018
Location: 51°30’17"N, 0°4’43"W
Town: Southwark
History
Address: The Queen's Walk
Built 2002
By: Norman Foster
Civic centre
Neo-futurist
Information
Owned by: More London Development Ltd
Website: www.london.gov.uk/city-hall

City Hall is a bizarre, Neo-futurist building on the south bank of the River Thames, upstream of near Tower Bridge, in Southwark, Surrey. It was built in 2002 to be the headquarters of the Greater London Authority.

The building was designed by Norman Foster and opened in July 2002, two years after the Greater London Authority was created. In June 2020, the Greater London Authority started a consultation on proposals to vacate City Hall and move to The Crystal building at the end of 2021.[1]

Background

For the first two years of its existence, the Greater London Authority was based at Romney House in Marsham Street in Westminster and meetings of the Assembly took place at Emmanuel Centre, also on Marsham Street.

City Hall was constructed at a cost of £43 million on a site formerly occupied by wharves serving the Pool of London: the building does not belong to the Authority but is leased under a 25-year rent. (Despite its name, City Hall is not in and does not serve a city, which often adding to the confusion of its administrative area with the City of London, which actually is a city and which has its headquarters at Guildhall. In June 2011, the then Mayor of London (if not of the City), Boris Johnson, announced that for the duration of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the building would be called London House.[2]

Predecessors of the Greater London Authority, the Greater London Council and the London County Council, had their headquarters at County Hall, upstream on the riverbank at Lambeth: the building was however long since sold for redevelopment and has been conversion into, among other things, a luxury hotel, amusement arcade and aquarium.[3]

Design

The interior helical staircase of London City Hall

The building has an unusual, bulbous shape, purportedly intended to reduce its surface area and thus improve energy efficiency, although the excess energy consumption caused by the exclusive use of glass (in a double facade) overwhelms the benefit of shape. Despite claiming the building "demonstrates the potential for a sustainable, virtually non-polluting public building",[4] energy use measurements have shown this building to be fairly inefficient in terms of energy use (375 kWh/m2/yr), with a 2012 Display Energy Performance Certificate rating of "E".[5] It has been compared variously to a helmet (either Darth Vader's or simply a motorcyclist's), a misshapen egg, and a woodlouse. Former mayor Ken Livingstone referred to it as a "glass testicle",[6][7] while his successor, Boris Johnson, made the same comparison using a different word, "The Glass Gonad"[8] and more politely as "The Onion".[9]

A 1,640-foot helical walkway ascends the full ten stories. At the top is an exhibition and meeting space called "London's Living Room", with an open viewing deck which is occasionally open to the public. The walkway provides views of the interior of the building, and is intended to symbolise transparency; a similar device was used by Foster in his design for the rebuilt Reichstag when Germany's capital was moved back to Berlin.

The council chamber is at the bottom of the helical stairway. The seats and desks for Assembly Members are arranged in a circular form.[10]

In popular culture

In 2018 the final selection for the television show, The Apprentice, was filmed in City Hall.[11]

Future

In June 2020 a consultation began on whether the Authority should vacate City Hall at the end of 2021 and relocate to The Crystal in the Royal Victoria Docks area. The Crystal building is already owned by the Authority and is currently under-occupied.[12][13]

Pictures

  • The Chamber
    The Chamber
  • Model of London City Hall in Legoland Windsor
    Model of London City Hall in Legoland Windsor
  • The riverbank near Tower Bridge
    The riverbank near Tower Bridge
  • Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf from the balcony
    Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf from the balcony
  • A view of City Hall in London from the River Thames
    A view of City Hall in London from the River Thames

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about City Hall, Southwark)

References

  1. ↑ "Khan proposes moving City Hall to cut costs". 24 June 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-53164416. 
  2. ↑ London SE1 website team London SE1 community website. "City Hall to be renamed ‘London House’ during 2012 Olympics [15 April 2011]". London-se1.co.uk. http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5238. Retrieved 2012-08-15. 
  3. ↑ Buchanan, Rhoda (8 April 2009). "A fishy day out at the new London Aquarium". thetimes.co.uk. Times of London. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/travel/holidays/family/article1738826.ece. Retrieved 12 June 2011. 
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/1027/default.aspx. 
  5. ↑ Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images. "Public building CO2 footprints revealed". the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2008/oct/02/energyefficiency.carbonemissions?intcmp=239#/?picture=338198107&index=5. Retrieved 14 September 2015. 
  6. ↑ Deyan Sudjic (8 July 2001). "A thoroughly modernising mayor". The Observer. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,518246,00.html. Retrieved 23 January 2010. 
  7. ↑ "Inside London's new 'glass egg'". BBC News. 16 July 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2129199.stm. Retrieved 23 January 2010. 
  8. ↑ Stephen Robinson (28 December 2008). "Is Boris on an upward spiral at last?". The Sunday Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5394230.ece. Retrieved 23 January 2010. 
  9. ↑ "The Onion". Shaftsbury. https://www-theshaftesbury-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/www.theshaftesbury.co.uk/blog/%E2%80%9Cthe-onion%E2%80%9D-or-london-city-hall/?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&amp&usqp=mq331AQA#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theshaftesbury.co.uk%2Fblog%2F%25E2%2580%259Cthe-onion%25E2%2580%259D-or-london-city-hall%2F. Retrieved 14 August 2019. 
  10. ↑ "Is the architecture of Westminster bad for politics?". The Conversation. 29 February 2016. https://theconversation-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/theconversation.com/amp/is-the-architecture-of-westminster-bad-for-politics-55427?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQA#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fis-the-architecture-of-westminster-bad-for-politics-55427. Retrieved 14 August 2019. 
  11. ↑ "The Apprentice: Finale review – surely time to dismantle this panto?". The Guardian. 16 December 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/dec/16/the-apprentice-finale-review-surely-time-to-dismantle-this-panto. Retrieved 30 September 2019. 
  12. ↑ Peracha, Qasim (24 June 2020). "Sadiq Khan announces plan to leave City Hall and move to East London". https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/sadiq-khan-announces-plan-leave-18479216. 
  13. ↑ "London’s iconic City Hall set to close in a shock plan to save £11m a year". https://www.itv.com/news/london/2020-06-24/londons-iconic-city-hall-set-to-close-in-a-shock-plan-to-save-11m-a-year/. 
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