This quality headquarters building designed by Foster & Partners for Canary Wharf Developments Ltd was the first of the second phase of developments at Canary Wharf.
The brief was complex: a highly transparent façade to the West Block Office Accommodation designed as an internally ventilated triple-glazed plenum system with opening internal panes, but also incorporating a high specification requirement for blast enhancement affording significant protection to office personnel.
Façade systems were primarily factory prefabricated and preglazed, in a variety of module sizes to suit both the grid and the aesthetic requirements of the architect.
One of the most striking features of the building are the glazed "Cathedral Walls" connecting the West Block and the East Tower, with their diagonal structural bracings clad in anodised aluminium panels.
At each corner of the West Block Office Accommodation are curvedon-plan triple-glazed elements, at the lower floors incorporating glass units having heights in excess of 5.0m; these are some of the largest curved glass units ever to have been used in such an application.