Vantage Point (formerly Archway Tower) is a 195-foot (59m) 17-storey residential apartment building above Archway Underground station, designed by Grid Architects, and owned and operated by Essential Living.

History

Archway Tower was built in 1973, by Cubitts. In 1967, the building was sold off and rented back on a 42-year lease and used for Social Security. The building was empty for several years before becoming home to the Public Guardianship Office in 2001, which became the

Court of Protection The Court of Protection in English law is a superior court of record created under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It has jurisdiction over the property, financial affairs and personal welfare of people who lack mental capacity to make decision ...

and the Office of the Public Guardian in 2007. In October 2007, the tower was sold by Wichford plc to Scarborough Property Group. /sup> The Court and the Office of the Public Guardian vacated the building in 2011. After sitting vacant for 2 years, Essential Living purchased Archway Tower in 2013 for £6 million /sup>, with plans to make the building "one of the country’s biggest office to residential conversions".

Refurbishment for rental

Design

The project involved the change of use from commercial to residential and a re-cladding. The change of use and refurbishment of a 50-year-old building presented significant challenges. Whilst the 1960s construction was very robust, the construction tolerances acceptable during construction of the building have been very different to those at time of the refurbishment. This meant that interfaces between the old structure and the new

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

needed to be very well thought through and detailed. Issues such as

cold bridging A thermal bridge, also called a cold bridge, heat bridge, or thermal bypass, is an area or component of an object which has higher thermal conductivity than the surrounding materials, creating a path of least resistance for heat transfer.Gorse, Chr ...

, loading factors and the use of

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

were all addressed during the design phase.

Completion

After 2 years' construction the renamed building reopened on 1 September 2016. Vantage Point now has 118 studio, 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom rental flats on floors 1–15, along with shared amenity space on the 16th and 17th floors.

In popular culture

Archway Tower is said to have inspired the song "Archway Towers" by

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. Toppers' House in

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir ''Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work f ...

's 2005 novel ''

A Long Way Down ''A Long Way Down'' is a 2005 novel written by British author Nick Hornby. It is a dark comedy, playing off the themes of suicide, angst, depression and promiscuity. The story is written in the first-person narrative from the points of view ...

'' is said to have been indirectly inspired by Archway Tower, but also by the eponymous Archway over Archway Road.

References

Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Islington Skyscrapers in the London Borough of Islington Residential skyscrapers in London {{London-struct-stub