Floor 42 at The Leadenhall Building will be London's highest dedicated event space when it opens summer 2015. The building is better known as ‘The Cheesegrater’.

Floor 42 at The Leadenhall Building will offer unrivalled views of the City skyline, the River Thames and St Pauls from its triple-aspect, floor to ceiling windows.

Floor 42 at The Leadenhall Building will include over 1,524sqm of flexible event space for conferences, product launches, receptions, parties and dinners. Capacity-wise the venue will seat for up to 300 delegates for a theatre style meeting or 250 guests for a seated lunch or dinner. The space will be equipped with the latest sound and LED lighting systems.

The Leadenhall Building is located in the City of London, a five minute walk from Bank Station.

Details:  www.theleadenhallbuilding.com

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Published: 30 April 2015

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Isambard Kingdom Brunel's first building project is to be turned into an events space 150 years after it was last open to the public. The 65ft-deep Rotherhithe entrance shaft to the Thames Tunnel in London will be opened for events in a project planned by the Brunel Museum.

The Thames Tunnel, which connects Rotherhithe and Wapping, was opened in 1843. It was the world’s first underwater tunnel and the birthplace of the modern London underground system.

The entrance shaft will be made accessible with a new cantilevered staircase. This will take the place of long-gone staircases that allowed millions of Victorian visitors to descend into the tunnel. The new venue will accommodate up to 135 people and will be available for hire as well as museum events once building work is completed later this year.

Robert Hulse, director of the  Brunel Museum, said: “Brunel was a showman as well as an engineer, and I’m sure he would have approved of holding performances in this new underground gallery.”

When it opened in 1843 the Thames Tunnel was described as the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’. People came from far and wide to see the first tunnel under a river anywhere in the world. On the opening day fifty thousand people descended the staircase and paid a penny to walk through the tunnel.
The proposal to build the tunnel was to accommodate sailing ships on the River Thames. The Port of London was the busiest in the world and the hub of trade across the British Empire. Any bridge built would have to allow ships with masts over 100 feet tall to sail under them. A horse could not pull a loaded cart up the very steep hill which would have been necessary for a bridge spanning the river. The technology of Tower Bridge’s lifting bascules was not available to these early engineers. Hence the idea of a tunnel.
 

Excavation work started in 1825. The tunnel flooded five times during construction, and in the worst flood six men were drowned before the tunnel was finally completed in 1843. Furthermore the River Thames in those days was no better than an open sewer. In 1869, steam  trains started to run through the tunnel meant  for horses and carts. In 1913 the railway was electrified and incorporated into the London Underground as the East London Line, making the Thames Tunnel the oldest tunnel in the oldest underground system in the world. The birthplace of the tube.

Details: www.brunel-museum.org.uk

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Published: 29 April 2015

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Yet another new hotel is set to open in Salford Quays in Manchester. A 112-bedroom Premier Inn is one component in a new 10-storey tower block planned at MediaCity UK.

The building will include four floors of office space with a ‘studio warehouse feel’ featuring exposed ceilings, allowing occupiers to design their own creative space.

The building is due to be completed by summer 2016.

Details: www.mediacityuk.co.uk

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Published: 29 April 2015

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The Laslett, a new hotel by Living Rooms, opens summer 2015 with 51 bedrooms in London’s Notting Hill. The hotel is named after the organiser of the original Notting Hill Festival, which went on to become the Notting Hill Carnival.

The Laslett is spread across five Victorian mansions on Pembridge Gardens and will reflect the area’s vibrant cultural heritage. The ground floor of the Laslett will feature multifunctional space - part coffee shop, part bar-kitchen, part gallery, part concept store. The guest rooms and suites will combine modern furniture with personal quirks, such as well-thumbed books and curios from local antiques dealers, with photographs and artworks from local artists.

The Laslett is less than a minute from Notting Hill Gate underground station and a short walk from Portobello Road Market.

The Laslett It will be the fourth property from Living Rooms, a group which specialises in providing luxury hotel alternatives. Their other London locations are in Little Venice, Mayfair and Marylebone.

Details: www.living-rooms.co.uk

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Published: 29 April 2015

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