The brief from Scottish Widows was to advise on an architect of pre-eminent design skill to achieve the quality necessary to replace a locally listed Edwardian building and a strongly national post war building. Eric Parry was our suggestion, known to be a brilliant architect but only having completed two small projects in London. His solution comprised an external load bearing stone structure which provided the only support for the building other than its central core.

Embedded content: https://vimeo.com/469934157

This is revolutionary in modern times. Separating the solid stone from the glazed envelope freed the architectural composition from the commercial planning grid and made a wholly authentic stone building, second only to Stonehenge! It also means that the occupants of the building also enjoy the visual warmth and reassuring substance of the stone from inside.

The depth of detail and kinetic effect as one moves past provides a similar architectural richness as that from the heavily articulated Victorian Baroque structures on the north side of Finsbury Square. The consultancy worked along-side the architects and provided townscape and heritage analysis in support of the planning application. Following its unique construction completion, the building came second in the 2005 Stirling Prize.