Merrill Lynch Headquarters

The building height was determined by St Paul’s Cathedral and the basement depth by the Post Office railway tunnel systems. These constraints heavily influenced the M & E plant location and form. Careful attention had to be paid to external noise as there are sensitive buildings adjacent to the site and the plant operates continuously.

The former Post Office building on King Edward Street has been refurbished, with the imposing colonnaded hall at street level restored for conferencing space and a small display about the history of the site, open to the public.

The architecture has a clear expression of structure but clad in brick and stone so that the frame, rather than the glazing, is the dominant element.

The buildings frame a series of public and communal spaces, which open up what was a closed site. A green central quadrangle between the main and west blocks can be accessed from the west and south, where a new public route runs behind the restored Newgate Street shops.

The focus of the development for those who work there is the glazed galleria which flanks the main block, extending east-west through the site.