Latest news with #WillisBuilding
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Ipswich's Willis office building designed by Norman Foster is 50
One of the most "revolutionary" office buildings in Suffolk is celebrating its 50th all-glass exterior Willis building in Ipswich was opened on 2 June 1975 with a roof-top garden and an indoor swimming was one of the first buildings designed by Norman Foster - one of Britain's foremost architects whose other buildings include London's Gherkin, the main terminal building at Stansted Airport in Essex and the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich. The Willis building was described by world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid as "a timeless classic, a vision of what is possible". The Grade I listed building, occupied by WTW (Willis Towers Watson), is one of the landmarks in Ipswich town centre with its contours based on the curvy glass vases of the 1930s. Its glass exterior changes colour with the light and reflects the buildings, streetlights, traffic and skies on the corner of St Peters Street and Franciscan the building's interior is lit up at night, the pipes and workings can be seen through the glass. Speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk last month, Lord Foster said: "It was revolutionary then and perhaps in many ways it still is."He said in the 1970s a typical office building would have been a tower, but building "low and deep" in the winding Medieval street layout would have "been revolutionary at that time".The architect said the new style of building was dubbed by the developers as "groundscrapers"."So this was the first of a kind, and was very much a response to the DNA, the vanity of a market town," he said."It meanders and is more intimate." The interior of the building is open-plan which was less commonplace at the light pours in from the glass ceiling, while escalators enabled access to the floors above instead of walls were painted yellow and the floors green to reflect the Sounds: Norman Foster remembers VE DayBBC Four: Building Sights - the Willis building"Being able to see your neighbour, to communicate... it's the opposite of everything about the workplace," Lord Foster said. "The idea that everyone would have the same standards, again was and still is in many ways revolutionary."Egalitarian, flexi-time, you could bring your family to the swimming pool, you didn't have to work nine to five." The swimming pool has long been covered over with flooring, but the roof garden remains. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trouble at the top as Kuwait sues over plans to build new City skyscraper that is taller than its building
Updated: The owner of one of the City of London's most iconic skyscrapers is suing over plans to build another, taller building close by, claiming it will obstruct the light. Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund owns the Willis Building, a 28-floor tower in the heart of the financial district designed by renowned British architects Foster + Partners that was completed in 2008. The fund has filed a lawsuit against French group Axa Investment Managers over plans for a larger, 36-storey tower nearby at 50 Fenchurch Street. The case, originally filed by a Kuwaiti investment vehicle in November, claims that the new development will 'materially reduce the light enjoyed by the Willis Building'. It added that this light blockage would amount to 'substantial interference with the ordinary enjoyment of the Willis Building and constitute a nuisance'. A defence to the claim has yet to be filed. Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.
Times
22-04-2025
- Business
- Times
London skyscraper at centre of legal row
The Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund has gone to the High Court complaining that one of the City of London's newest skyscrapers will obstruct the light into its own Foster + Partners-designed building. The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), through its St Martins real estate vehicle, owns the freehold to the Willis Building, which is the headquarters of Willis Towers Watson, the insurance broker. It is bringing its case against Axa IM Alts, the French insurer's investment arm, which is building a 36-storey tower at 50 Fenchurch Street, around the corner from the Willis Building. The lawsuit was filed last November but was first reported in the press by the Financial Times on Monday. In its claim, the KIA contends that 50 Fenchurch Street will 'materially reduce
