黑洞社区

News story, 30 April 1993

Emergency repairs delayed by red tape, say contractors

Contractors employed to shore up bomb-damaged buildings in Bishopsgate claim they lost vital hours over the weekend because of excessive bureaucracy by police and City of London officials.

A 1 tonne IRA bomb exploded at 10.25am on Saturday near the HongKong and Shanghai Bank and close to the 42-storey NatWest Tower, killing one man and injuring 47.

Thirty-six workers from Mansell Maintenance, which helped to repair buildings after the bomb blast in St Mary Axe last April, arrived on the scene at 11.30am to work on nine buildings for insurer Prudential and merchant bank Close Brothers. But they were not given access to the cordoned- off site until 7pm.

Mansell staff returned at 7am on Sunday but had to wait for four hours before gaining access. General manager Brian King said: 鈥淚t was total chaos. When we turned up on the Sunday we were told to queue up at the Guildhall for a pass. But they did not start issuing them until nine o鈥檆lock.鈥�

When the workers were finally allowed past the security cordon, they were told they could not bring their vans. 鈥淲e had to manhandle scaffolding hundreds of yards. There was just no sense to it.鈥� City surveyor Ted Hartill said: 鈥淚鈥檝e heard what went wrong. There was confusion over the issuing of passes, and there was a bit of aggro when too many people tried to get into the exclusion zone.鈥�

Over the weekend about 1000 contractors descended on Bishopsgate. 鈥淭hey were swarming like bees round a honeypot,鈥� said one.

City engineer Colin Snowdon added: 鈥淥n Saturday, you could see glazing vans queuing up as far as the eye could see.鈥� By Tuesday, contractors had cleared 500 tonnes of broken glass and rubble from the area.

News story, 30 April 1993

City planner calls for total redevelopment

Pull down Natwest Tower and build new skyscraper, says Rees. Adrian Barrick reports.

Corporation of London chief planner Peter Rees this week called for the demolition of the NatWest tower and other buildings damaged in last Saturday鈥檚 IRA bomb attack so that they can be replaced by a single 80-storey skyscraper. 

Speaking to 黑洞社区 on Monday, Rees said the devastation presented an 鈥渋deal opportunity鈥� to rid the City of London of some of its least-loved buildings, and to erect 鈥渁 symbol of defiance to the IRA鈥�.

City engineer Colin Snowdon said this week that at least two buildings in Bishopsgate - St Ethelburga Church and Kansallis House next door, which took the full impact of the explosion - would have to be demolished. Consultants fear that at least three others may have to be pulled down (details below).

But Rees said that any redevelopment of Bishopsgate should also include pulling down the 600ft NatWest Tower, designed by Richard Seifert and regarded as one of the great 1970s office towers.

The replacement tower should be twice as tall, making it 鈥渙ne of the tallest buildings in Europe鈥�. It should be built on a site just north of the current NatWest Tower and designed by Sir Norman Foster, he said.

David Edmonds, NatWest鈥檚 general manager of group property, said Rees鈥� proposal was 鈥渁 very interesting suggestion which we had not thought of. But present thinking is that we have a superb building which has served us well.鈥�

Meanwhile, NatWest is about to submit a planning application for an 拢80m scheme to redevelop Apex House, close to the Bank of England. It is also working on plans with Trafalgar House and SOM to turn part of its 1960s office tower at Draper鈥檚 Gardens into a luxury hotel.

News story, 30 April 1993

Consultants warn that costs of rebuilding could far outstrip early estimates

The cost of rebuilding the City of London in the wake of last Saturday鈥檚 bomb attack is likely to exceed 拢500m and could involve the demolition of at least five buildings, according to leading consultants this week. 

The assessment far exceeds calculations by senior Corporation of London officials who put the likely level of insurance claims at 拢350m, similar to the cost of rebuilding following the IRA bomb attack in the City last April which severely damaged the Baltic Exchange and the Commercial Union tower. Both buildings were hit again in Saturday鈥檚 blast.

But Francis Ives, senior partner of quantity surveyor Cyril Sweett & Partners, which acted as a loss assessor for the Baltic Exchange last year, said: 鈥淭here is greater damage from this bomb than the last one. I would imagine the cost will be 拢500-700m.鈥�

The corporation also said on Tuesday that only two buildings are likely to need demolition - the 1000-year-old St Ethelburga Church, which was reduced to a pile of rubble, and neighbouring Kansallis House, which took the full impact of the blast. 

City engineer Colin Snowdon said a further 155 buildings were damaged by the blast, 25 of them severely. Consultants who inspected other buildings in Bishopsgate early this week predicted that five buildings may have to be pulled down. 

Ives warned that the podium of offices around the 26-storey HongKong and Shanghai Bank tower at 99 Bishopsgate 鈥渓ooks as if they will need to be demolished鈥� and the 1975 tower 鈥渕ay not be worth saving鈥�. A bank spokeswoman said the tower was still being assessed by the original engineer Bylander Waddle.

Ives said the National Bank of Abu Dhabi at 90 Bishopsgate, for which Sweett is acting as loss assessor, is likely to be stripped back to its steel frame. 鈥淭he cladding is shot and the interiors were blown right through.鈥�

Also at risk of demolition is a row of Victorian shops at 20-26 Wormwood Street, where roofs were blown in and frontages ripped out. 

Another consultant said there was concern about possible structural damage to 55 Bishopsgate, completed by Bovis just two years ago. Robin Booth, a partner of the architect Fitzroy Robinson, which had 12 buildings hit, said steel-framed structures like 55 Bishopsgate would need careful examination. 鈥淭he effect of the bomb on the fixings of the masonry facade, which is hung on the steel frame, would need to be tested. There could be hairline cracks around the fixings, and a frost next winter could force the stonework off.

Booth also said there was a danger that buildings would have to be demolished if the bomb blast had twisted their steel frames.

Fitzroy Robinson was also this week examining a concrete-framed building at 38 Bishopsgate. The building was also danged in the 1992 blast, and contractor Trollope & Colls is understood to have been close to finishing repairs when the IRA struck again. 

The 42-storey NatWest Tower lost up to a third of its 12,000 windows and had internal doors and ceilings ripped out. The building鈥檚 original engineer Pell Frischmann was assessing damage Tuesday, but NatWest鈥檚 general manager of group property David Edmonds said: 鈥淲e have no concern about structural damage until a full survey has been done and that will take three or four weeks.鈥� 

Sweett also warned other owners that it could take several months for structural damage to appear 鈥淎t the Baltic Exchange, panels of marble dropped off ceilings and walls weeks later. This was because the steel frame which had been pushed back, recovered to original position, springing the marble off,鈥� Ives said.