Southwark Towers was a

high rise building A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

at 32 London Bridge Street, designed by TP Bennett architects, overlooking

London Bridge station London Bridge is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Southwark, south-east London. It occupies a large area on three levels immediately south-east of London Bridge, from which it takes its name. The m ...

, in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

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 ...

. When it was demolished in 2008 to make way for

The Shard The Shard, also referred to as the Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge, and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that forms part of The Shard Quarter dev ...

, it was jointly the tallest building ever to have been demolished in the United Kingdom, alongside the

Drapers' Gardens Drapers Gardens is a site in the City of London at the junction of Throgmorton Avenue and Copthall Avenue on land owned by the Drapers' Company. Originally a garden space, it was largely built over by the early twentieth century. It has been the ...

tower.

History

Completed in 1975, it was 100 metres tall and had 25 floors in three wings. Southwark Towers was formerly the London office of

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

before it merged with

Coopers & Lybrand PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

in 1998. The property attracted some political interest in the 1970s when the developer, Peachey Property Corporation ('PPC'), got into financial difficulties. It was subsequently alleged that the transaction to develop the property might not have been entered into on an arm's length basis and that there might have been an element of bounty or kindness from PPC to Price Waterhouse, who happened to be PPC's auditors. Department of Trade inspectors dismissed the allegations. In 1998 the building was acquired by Irvine Sellar, a property developer. In 2008, the building was demolished to make way for

. The typical way to demolish a building in the United Kingdom is by implosion, but due to its close proximity to

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

and other buildings, Southwark Towers was instead taken apart in pieces. It was the tallest building ever to have been demolished in the United Kingdom.

References

External links

*
From emporis.com

blitzandblight.com / Southwark Towers
Towers completed in 1975 Buildings and structures demolished in 2008 Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Southwark Demolished buildings and structures in London PricewaterhouseCoopers Former skyscrapers {{London-struct-stub

History

See also

References

External links