César Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates and Frederick Gibberd Coombes & Partners designed the tower for Olympia & York. Construction began in 1988, it topped out on November 8, 1990, and it opened on August 26, 1991 at a cost of £624 million. The shape resembles 200 Vesey Street in New York.
The tower is 770 feet (235 m) high with 50 floors, and the pinnacle is 800 feet (240 m) above sea level. The original design was 864 feet (263 m) and 55 storeys, and five floors were removed to meet flight-path limits. It stands on 222 piles and a concrete raft 13 feet (4 m) thick, with about 27,500 metric tons of steel and stainless steel cladding.
A steel pendulum acts as a tuned mass damper. The pyramid roof of stainless steel louvres is about 130 feet (40 m) high. The ground floor and foyer are public, and there is no observation floor.
Comments