Lloyd’s may be the global market for specialist insurance and reinsurance, but it is also a London icon. Over the last three centuries, Lloyd’s has called home to just eight buildings – the most recent of which can be found on Lime Street, in the heart of the City.
Designed by renowned British architect Lord Richard Rogers and opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 1986, the Lloyd’s building is a radical addition to the skyline, and a pioneering example of high-tech architecture.
When Lloyd’s commissioned the structure in the 1970s, it was determined to build something that could last well into the next century. Rogers responded to the challenge with a design that placed all of the building’s services – staircases, lifts, lobbies, toilets, water pipes – on the outside of the building making them easy to access for repairs, and leaving the interior dominated by a spectacular and airy central atrium.
The atrium rises more than 60 metres to a painted latticed steel and glass barrel-vaulted roof that, during trading hours, bathes the Underwriting Room in natural light. The floors and galleries that surround the atrium are all flexible spaces that can be adjusted with the introduction or removal of partitions and walls, able to evolve with the business as it grows.
The building’s 12 glass lifts were the first of their kind in the UK, and cranes that remain on the roof of the building allow for exterior maintenance work. The large ceiling lights double up as air extractors and triple-glazed external layers act as air ducts from ceiling to floor.
The initial reaction to our inside-out building was mixed, with early reviews describing it as an oil rig, a coffee percolator, a motorcycle engine and a building ‘on life support’. But over time, opinions have changed and Lloyd’s at Lime Street is now one of the most widely celebrated architectural triumphs in Britain. It is also the youngest structure to have been awarded a Grade I listing, receiving the recognition in 2011 just 25 years after it was built.
Lloyd’s has always been an institution that at once embraces tradition and encourages innovation. This dual spirit is echoed in a bold building that has become a modern masterpiece. (Lloyds)
Available at: 1 Lime Street, London, EC3M 7HA