The walk will start in the front of Richard Seifert's NatWest Building - (or Tower 42 as it is now known) as the last of the post-war spate of City towers to be completed. We will discuss its role in convincing the market that small floor plate towers could work in the Square Mile. We will follow the path of the now abandoned Pedway system, across Bishopsgate - look at the emerging 22 Bishopsgate, 100, Bishopsgate and the Heron Tower. Along Bevis Marks and down St Mary Axe to no 30. Look at the Foster building as the first of the new wave of towers, discuss the impact of the Baltic Exchange bomb on this and the CU (now Aviva) building. Look at the tall buildings surrounding St Helens Square - the proposed 1 Undershaft, The Leadenhall Building, the Willis Building and the Scalpel. Then into the public space beneath the Leadenhall building to discuss the City’s plan to connect the ground plane of 22 Bishopsgate, the Leadenhall atrium and the clear space beneath 1 Undershaft to create more space at ground level for the denser city Host Peter Murray Peter trained as an architect and was an editor of Building Design and RIBA Journal before starting Blueprint Magazine in 1983.
He has a curated a number of major architectural exhibitions and is Chairman of the communications consultancy Wordsearch. He is founder of both NLA and the London Festival of Architecture and is author of various architectural books including “The saga of Sydney Opera House” and “A passion to build”. He is a visiting professor of IE University in Madrid and Hon. Sec. of the Bedford Park Society.