10 Trinity Square

Architect Woods Bagot has unveiled its plans to transform London’s iconic Ten Trinity Square into a luxury hotel. The practice is working with US property company Thomas Enterprises on the £150 million project to convert the Grade II* listed building into a 131-bedroom hotel with spa and thirty apartments.

Designed by Sir Edwin Cooper, Ten Trinity Square was built between 1915 and 1922, and was originally the headquarters of the Port of London Authority. The central rotunda room was the grand main space of the building but was destroyed during the Blitz. 
Woods Bagot’s proposals restore the central rotunda and remove unsympathetic extensions added in the 1960s, replacing them with a modern glass domed extension.

Rob Steul, Principal at Woods Bagot and designer of the proposed scheme, said the 30-metre diameter space at the heart of the restored building would rival the scale of the Reading Room in the Great Court of the British Museum: “Our vision for 10 Trinity is to restore one of its most important Grade II* listed buildings and create one of the finest hotels in London. This is a unique site in the City, close to Canary Wharf, and overlooking a World Heritage Site at the Tower of London.”

Ten Trinity Square was opened by Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 1922. Following World War II, the venue hosted the inaugural reception of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1946. Thomas Enterprises bought the site in 2006 and have recently applied to the City Corporation for planning permission to proceed with the scheme, a decision on which is expected in late spring.

The neighbouring Mariner House building is also being developed as a hotel after a series of legal battles between Thomas Enterprises and City Inn resulted in the Court of Appeal backing City Inn’s right to redevelop the site. City Inn is working with architects Bennett Associates to create a 600-guestroom hotel.

www.10trinity.com