Fosters’ City Hall building could get listed status

Foster & Partners’ City Hall building, which served as the headquarters for the mayor of London for almost 20 years, could soon get listed status, it has emerged.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has declined a request for a “certificate of immunity from listing” – or COI – made on behalf the building’s owners, which could have offered a window for radical redevelopment of the structure, or even demolition.

今年早些时候，现任伦敦市长萨迪克·汗将大伦敦管理局和伦敦议会搬迁到威尔金森·爱事务所的水晶大楼，以在未来5年节省6100万英镑的租金。

Campaign group the Twentieth Century Society placed Fosters’ City Hall on its buildings at risk list when the prospect of Khan and the GLA relocating operations became a firm prospect. However it was unsuccessful in getting listed status for the building last year.

It welcomed culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ decision not to grant building owners St Martins Property Group the COI it sought earlier this year for the structure, which was described by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone as a “glass testicle”.

The group stressed it was not opposed to a new use being sought for the building, which was strongly informed by Foster’s previous renovation and adaptation of the Reichstag in Berlin.

It said Foster & Partners’ support for the granting of a COI for the building had been “surprising”, even though the practice declared its attachment to the structure.

“C20协会强调，该建筑的上市并不会阻止它有新的用途，Foster & Partners事务所参考的‘和谐的适应’和‘敏感的干预’仍然可以在具有重要建筑和遗产价值的建筑中实现，”它说。

前市政厅的内部特色是一个螺旋走道，螺旋上升到整个10层楼高的建筑。该结构还包括会议厅、委员会房间、市长办公室、议员和支持人员的办公室。

A publicly accessible space at the highest point of the building known as “London’s Living Room” was never fully opened as intended following a review of security in the wake of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks in New York. It was used as private events space, however.