Vauxhall Tower
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St George Wharf Tower, also known as the Vauxhall Tower, is a residential skyscraper in
Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
,
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, and part of the
St George Wharf St George Wharf is a riverside development in Vauxhall, Lambeth, London, England, located on the southern bank of the River Thames beside Vauxhall Bridge. St George Wharf Pier is a calling point for London River Services riverboat RB2 and RB6 se ...
development. At tall with 50 storeys, it is the eighteenth-tallest building in London and the tallest residential building in the United Kingdom. Whilst under construction, in 2013 a helicopter collided with a crane on the building and crashed to the ground, causing two deaths.Helicopter Crashes Into Crane In London
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Design features

The tower's floor-plan design is based on the shape of a
Catherine wheel Catherine wheel may refer to: * wheel or breaking wheel, an instrument of torturous execution originally associated with Saint Catherine of Alexandria * Catherine wheel (firework), a firework that rotates when lit Arts and entertainment * Cather ...
and is typically divided into five apartments per floor with separating walls radiating out from the central core. Sky gardens provide residents with a semi-external space stepped forward from the pure circular plan, creating steps in the façade that accentuate the building's height and provide variety and interest in the detailing of the otherwise minimal cladding. The building is divided into three distinct parts—a base that houses the communal facilities of the building including a lobby, business lounge, gym, spa and swimming pool; a middle section containing most of the apartments; and an upper section where the façade reduces in diameter to provide 360-degree terraces and a
wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
that tops the structure. The wind turbine, manufactured by British green-technology company Matilda's Planet, powers the tower's common lighting, whilst creating virtually no noise or vibration. At the base of the tower, water is drawn from the London Aquifer and
heat pump A heat pump is a device that can heat a building (or part of a building) by transferring thermal energy from the outside using a refrigeration cycle. Many heat pumps can also operate in the opposite direction, cooling the building by removing h ...
technology is used to remove warmth from the water in the winter to heat the apartments. In comparison to similar buildings, the tower requires one third of the energy, and produces between one half and two thirds of typical carbon dioxide emissions. It is triple-glazed to minimise heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer, with low-e glazing and ventilated blinds between the glazing to further reduce heat gain from direct sunlight. Special stairs for the luxury lower penthouse apartments are supplied. These apartments and stairs are a mirror of each other. In one of these apartments there is a 360-degree view across London. The highest swimming pool in the city is located in this apartment.


Planning

Following ongoing advice from the government architectural body, the
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for C ...
, two revised planning applications were submitted and subsequently withdrawn. A final decision was made by the then
Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...
in 2005 and the tower was approved, against the decision of the planning inspector and despite warnings from Prescott's own advisers that it "could set a precedent for the indiscriminate scattering of very tall buildings across London".


Construction

As of October 2011 the concrete core had reached level 22. Glass curtain wall construction began in September 2011, with floors one and two completed by October. As of March 2012 the core had risen beyond the 44th floor. By October 2012, the steel and the core had reached full height, and the installation of the wind turbine began with the glass a few floors below the top of the tower. File:Drilling platform on the River Thames - geograph.org.uk - 1492248.jpg, File:St George Wharf Tower under construction Nov 6 2011.jpg, File:St Georges Wharf February 2012.jpg, File:St Georges Wharf Tower May 2012.jpg, File:St Georges Wharf Tower 2012-09-25 19.20.32.jpg, File:St George Wharf Tower at night.jpg,


Helicopter crash

On 16 January 2013, at approximately 08:00, two people were killed when an
AgustaWestland AW109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to ...
helicopter struck a construction crane attached to the near-complete building and then crashed onto Wandsworth Road, hitting two cars and igniting two nearby buildings. One of those killed was the pilot, who was flying alone; the other was a pedestrian. The crane was seriously damaged in the incident, but its operator was late for work so was not in the cab at the time of the collision.


Carbuncle Cup nomination

In August 2014 the tower was nominated and made the ''
Building Design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...
'' short-list for that year's
Carbuncle Cup The Carbuncle Cup was an architecture prize, given annually by the magazine ''Building Design'' to "the ugliest building in the United Kingdom completed in the last 12 months". It was intended to be a humorous response to the prestigious Stirling ...
, which was ultimately awarded to Woolwich Central with St George Wharf Tower being named runner-up.


Flat ownership

''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported in May 2016 that 131 out of 210 apartments for which title deeds were available were in foreign ownership. The owner of the five-storey penthouse was the family of Andrei Guriev, who was believed to be installing a Russian Orthodox chapel. Other owners included Ebitimi Banigo and Vitaly Orlov (who had purchased the entire 39th floor). Among the 184 of the apartments, nobody was registered to vote in the UK.


References


External links


Official homepage of the development

Development's Property Management homepage

Broadway Malyan project details
{{UKSkyscrapers, Completed Residential buildings completed in 2014 Residential skyscrapers in London Skyscrapers in the London Borough of Lambeth Vauxhall 2014 establishments in England