Danish practice’s first London project will replace original Arup Broadgate buildings

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3XN’s Finsbury Avenue towers, with Make’s 5 Broadgate groundscraper visible to the right

3XN has unveiled new plans for twin towers at 2 Finsbury Avenue at Broadgate ahead of a planning submission in the autumn.

It is the Danish practice’s first project in London, working with executive architect Adamson Associates. 3XN has previously worked in the UK, designing the troubled Museum of Liverpool.

Its proposal for the City of London’s architecturally important 1980s Broadgate Estate consists of a 12-storey podium above whichrise a 35-storey East Tower and 20-storey West Tower.

The plans spell the end for two other schemes: the existing low-rise Peter Foggo buildings at 2 and 3 Finsbury Avenue Square and a 32-storey replacement designed by his firm Arup Associates which won planning in 2016 but was never built. The Foggo buildings were granted immunity from listing in 2015, a move which Twentieth Century Society director Catherine Croft described at the time as the “last straw” for Broadgate.

>> Also read: Arup Associates reveals tower that will replace its own Broadgate buildings

>> Building Study: Museum of Liverpool, by 3XN and AEW

 

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3XN was appointed last year after a ”top-secret desgn competition”. Its scheme has been designed with behavioural scientists from GXN, 3XN’s innovation arm, and are interspersed with green areas and terraces.

A public route under the building will extend Finsbury Avenue to create a new route from Eldon Street to Sun Street via Finsbury Avenue Square.

Public access to the building will be encouraged through the inclusion of a new learning hub fronting on to Sun Street and Wilson Street.

The development will be built by Sir Robert McAlpine, which is British Land’s sole framework contractor on Broadgate, with the decision to push ahead with plans signalling a confidence in the capital’s commercial market by the FTSE100 developer.

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The building will target net zero carbon in construction and operation as well as a Breeam “Outstanding” certification.

Others on the project include Core Five as cost consultant, Gardiner & Theobald as project manager and Ramboll as structural engineer.

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