CityPoint

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CityPoint, viewed from Moor Lane.

CityPoint, viewed from Liverpool Street.

CityPoint (previously known as Britannic House) is a skyscraper on Ropemaker Street on the northern fringe of the City of London.

It was built in 1967 as a 35-storey, 122 metres (400 ft) tall headquarters for British Petroleum (now BP). The designers at that time were F. Milton Cashmore and H.N.W. Grosvenor.^[1]

It was refurbished in 2000 which increased the height to 127 metres (417 ft) and increased the available floor space. The designer for the refurbishment was Sheppard Robson.^[2] It was renamed CityPoint after its refurbishment. Its anchor tenant is Simmons & Simmons, a law firm.

It is currently the third tallest building in the City, after Tower 42 and 30 St Mary Axe, but only the twelfth tallest in Greater London.

In August 2005, the building was put on the market by its owner, Pillar Properties, for more than £500m - one of the largest deals ever seen in the City office market.

In early 2007, the building was again put on the market, this time for £650m. At the time, this made it the most expensive building ever sold in the UK, as a private US company - Beacon Capital - agreed to buy it. However, the HSBC Tower in Canary Wharf eclipsed this by some margin when, in April 2007, it was sold for over £1 billion.

1 Redevelopment of the area
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Redevelopment of the area

A number of other large buildings are being planned on sites nearby. These include a 43-storey, 140 metres (459 ft) residential tower at Milton Court. A 90 metres (295 ft) office tower at Ropemaker Place is also being developed by British Land. In addition, the investment firm JP Morgan are planning a huge 1 million square foot headquarters on Fore Street.