20 Fenchurch Street is located in the financial district of the City of London. Designed by world-renowned architect Rafael Viñoly, the building has been nicknamed the ‘Walkie Talkie’ because of its distinctive shape and top heavy form, making it one of the more visually recognisable tower buildings in London.
A three-story public sky garden is located at the top of the building with landscaped gardens, an open air terrace, restaurants and function spaces, all with stunning views of London.
Each floor provides uninterrupted views in every direction and has a unique size. The exterior facade is comprised of metal prefabricated cladding systems with integrated windows.
CoxGomyl supplied a range of different systems to provide access to various areas of the facade with most of the access being provided by three 7000 Series Building Maintenance Unit (BMU) systems on the main roof.
Each of the BMU’s runs on a round track system fitted to the roof fins and is driven over the roof using a chain drive with a safety cable over-speed device. The BMU’s have been designed to park out of site between the roof fins to minimise their visual impact when not in use. A hydraulically powered elevating ladder and two smaller BMU’s were also installed in the Sky Garden area.
A unique Selective pivoting Variable Leveling BMU Platform was innovated to make it easier for BMUs to travel on curved roofs where it is required to minimize visual impact from the outside of the building. This allows the top floor to be better used as a garden area because a curved roof is aesthetically much more pleasing when viewed from inside the building.
As Architects look at ways to make their buildings stand out from the crowd the ability to design using multi curved roofs adds another option.
