30 June 2024

Conviction

 

On Tuesday the City of London Corporation marked the "bottoming out" of the Salisbury Square development. The name is an inversion of the traditional ‘topping out’ of a skyscraper and so describes completing the deepest point below ground of a scheme. The full details are contained in a press release​ shared on their websites by all of the parties that includes rather grandiloquent quotes. As with the foundation stone two years ago, a range of dignitaries were in attendance but no staff this time. That a body as old as the Corporation still goes for the ceremonial burying of a time capsule is unsurprising.

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Some of the quotes are, though. It’s not clear what the police mean by “the addition of new sites”, whilst overall completion is now said to be “towards the end of 2026.” Those points aside, it’s worth noting some extra details of the work celebrated this week, showing  the sheer effort expended so far. As with most excavation projects in central London, the new conflicted with the old leading to pre-existing basements being included, modified or avoided; the peculiar ground conditions locally were also a factor, with loads and earth movement having to be carefully controlled. That there is a 4.5 metre difference in levels across the site from north to south didn’t help. Asbestos removal and party wall investigations below ground also occurred, whilst an existing vault was also dealt with. No plan survives contact with the enemy and thus the intended process was modified in many ways during the dig. New structural elements were moved, modified or in some cases omitted, after analysis of the actual conditions and 3D modelling. This saved time, cost and space within the new building. The court and police buildings will have a ground-source heating system and so 64 geothermal boreholes were drilled down to 250 metres’ depth for this to work. 

 

A brief walk-by yesterday showed the highest point of the development currently is a tower of contractor cabins. I guess there’s no going back now.

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(Entry expanded 24 May 2025)

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