Report - South Bank Tower, London - October 2013

[Seffy]

South Bank Tower (Kings Reach Tower), London

Visited with Gabe.

South Bank Tower (formerly King's Reach Tower until 2013) is a high-rise building in Stamford Street, Southwark, London. It is a thirty storey structure 111 metres (364 ft) high and was completed in 1978, designed by the renowned architect Richard Seifert and built by John Laing Construction Limited. As of 2013, the tower is undergoing extensive redevelopment.
The tower is a Brutalist-style building that was common at the time of its construction. The tower is similar in design to Tower 42, which is designed by the same architect.

Property developer CIT has started a complete redevelopment of the building into a mix used residential led scheme in January 2013. Six new floors were originally planned to be added to the tower, increasing its height to around 128.4 metres (421 ft). The new tower expects to house 173 apartments, with retail units built around the base and the existing podium building increased in height and transformed into new office space.
In mid 2013, CIT requested permission to increase the tower's height by a further 5 floors (bringing the total to 11) which would bring the tower to 155 metres (509 ft). 18 additional apartments would be made available with this increase. The plans were approved by Southwark councillors on the 16th of July 2013.

This was originally not on the cards at all for this particular night. It was only after failing elsewhere and not wanting to go home having achieved nothing, we decided to have some laughs up high and relax for a bit.

This is the first time I'd been up this structure, after looking at it many times from afar and up close. I know earlier in the year every man and his dog were getting up this one, even people who don't even normally touch heights. That is, until certain doors became locked etc. I can see why though, it does offer some pretty decent looks over the city.

We had a choice. Stood at the base of the crane, we could either climb that, or just go up to the roof of the building itself. In the end, we decided to do the latter, as both of us were knackered and I knew that my tripod and cranes make for a rather stressful climb to say the least. Maybe once the extra stories begin to appear, the TC will jump, and that might give more of an incentive to get up it. Until then, however, we certainly appreciated the views after a long night and a lot of walking.

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