Works start on major revamp of City of London’s iconic Tower 42

Originally designed by Swiss British architect Richard Seifert and completed in 1980, the 600ft-high structure was the UK’s tallest building until the topping out of Canary Wharf’s One Canada Square in 1990.

“Every move that we are making aims to better reveal and celebrate this iconic, unapologetically brutalist engineering feat; a truly unique building nestled amongst a sea of glass and steel skyscrapers.”
Ben Knight, Director at dMFK

The refurbishment follows the landlord's investment in a pioneering energy strategy – the first of its kind in an occupied UK tower – which raised the EPC rating from D to B.

The modernist skyscraper comprises 42 cantilevered office floors arranged in three distinctive ‘leaves’ that branch out from a vast concrete core clad in dark red marble. Each floor has increasingly spectacular views of the City Cluster as you rise through the building.

The retrofit reimagines the three-storey atrium as a series of welcoming, legible spaces that enhance Tower 42’s amenity offer – particularly valuable for the smaller tenants drawn to the building’s 3,000 sqft ‘leaves’.

“The material palette draws from Tower 42’s distinctive fluted façade, curved, filleted floorplan, and greenhouse-like glazed entrance. Fluted tiles and poured terrazzo echo the 1980s brutalist aesthetic, while timber joinery with lush integrated planting conceals services and frames upward views of the stone-clad core.”
Isobel Eaton, Associate at dMFK

Works are due to complete in 2026. Read more in Property Week and Architects' Journal.