Principal Place

Principal Place
Principal Place in September 2023, with the high-rise Principal Tower to the right
Principal Place is located in Greater London
Principal Place
Location within Greater London
General information
TypeMixed-use[1]
LocationLondon, England, EC2
Address111 Worship Street
Coordinates51°31′18″N 0°04′43″W / 51.5216°N 0.0786°W / 51.5216; -0.0786
Elevation25 m (82 ft)
Current tenantsAmazon UK
Completed2016[1]
ClientAmazon UK Ltd
Technical details
Floor count15
Design and construction
Architecture firmFoster + Partners[1]

Principal Place is a 15-storey office block in Shoreditch, London, designed by Foster and Partners and completed in 2016.[1] Since 2018, it has been occupied by the internet retailer Amazon.com as its UK headquarters. It is situated at the eastern end of Worship Street, with the main entrance approached across a pedestrian piazza from Shoreditch High Street. Alongside Principal Place, and built as part of the same development, stands a 50-storey residential block named Principal Tower.[1]

Immediately to the south of Principal Place, on the opposite side of Worship Street (and therefore within the boundaries of the City of London), stands Broadgate Tower.

Development

Principal Place under construction, June 2016

In July 2014, it was reported that Amazon was close to signing a lease to move its UK headquarters to Principal Place. The project had been on hold since January 2012, when the anchor tenant, the law firm CMS Cameron McKenna, pulled out. Soon after, the developer Hammerson sold its interest in the scheme to Brookfield.[2] Amazon moved into the block in 2018.[1]

Archaeology

The development stands on part of the site of the extramural northern cemetery of Roman Londinium, and adjacent to Roman Ermine Street. An archaeological excavation undertaken in 2012, prior to the commencement of building work, discovered a hoard of 133 Roman coins (19 gold solidi and 114 silver siliquae; roughly equivalent to some 12 years' earnings for a late 4th-century legionary). The latest coin was dated to AD 397–402, and the hoard is thought to have been buried at the end of the first decade of the fifth century.[3] Another investigation in 2015 discovered a group of four pits containing an assemblage of Early Neolithic pottery and struck flint.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Principal Place". Buildington. Archived from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  2. ^ Withers, Iain (22 July 2014). "Amazon interest could revive Principal Place tower". Building (website). Archived from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  3. ^ Bowsher, Julian M. C. (2021). "An early 5th-century Roman coin hoard from London's northern cemetery: Principal Place, Hackney". Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. 72: 15–48.
  4. ^ Cotton, Jonathan; Daykin, Andy; Dunne, Julie; Quinn, Patrick (2022). "Early Neolithic pits at Principal Place, Shoreditch, London Borough of Hackney". Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. 73: 1–38.


Stub icon

This article about a London building or structure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.