When one thinks of property conversions in today’s private real estate market, transformations such as office to residential, retail to industrial or hotel to multifamily are typically front of mind. Turning a 620-foot telecommunications tower into a hotel is not likely to be at the top of anyone’s list.
However, this is what New York-based hotel owner-operator MCR Hotels has set out to achieve with the BT Tower, an iconic feature on the London skyline since 1964.
MCR, which owns 150 hotels across the US, agreed to purchase the BT Tower from BT Group in February, marking the firm’s first investment outside of the US. The transaction value has been reported as £275 million ($349 million; €322 million).
The UK telecoms company is phasing out its operations at the site as it migrates its services onto a cloud-based system. It will therefore take several years to vacate the premises. In the meantime, MCR will partner with London-based architects Heatherwick Studio on the plan to repurpose the tower into a hotel and open it to the general public.
Towering over London
The BT Tower was once the tallest structure in London. Opened 60 years ago by Harold Wilson, the UK prime minister at the time, it was commissioned by the General Post Office to support its microwave network and originally known as the Post Office Tower. The building’s location was classified information in accordance with the Official Secrets Act, demonstrating its importance to the country’s communications network.
At the time, the public could visit the tower’s viewing galleries and souvenir shop. They could also dine in Britain’s first rotating restaurant on the 34th floor, which was run by entertainment company Butlins and took 23 minutes to complete a revolution.
The Top of the Tower restaurant’s days were numbered, however, after an anarchist group exploded a bomb in the men’s toilets in 1971. After operating for a further 10 years on an invitation-only basis, the establishment was closed amid security concerns – although the revolving floor remains – and the tower has been largely inaccessible to the public ever since.
BT Group began operating the building in 1984, by which time it had been surpassed as London’s tallest structure by the NatWest Tower, otherwise known as Tower 42.
The BT Tower has remained a major UK telecoms hub ever since it was built and was awarded Grade II listed building status in 2003. Its microwave aerials became defunct following the transition to fixed and mobile networks, and permission to remove them was granted on safety grounds in 2011, leaving the core of the tower visible.
With its 360-degree color LED screen displaying news and messages across London – from counting down to the 2012 Olympic Games to warning the public to keep safe from covid-19 – the walls of the BT Tower really can talk. Londoners will be wondering whether they will continue to do so when the telco tower’s transition to a hotel is complete.
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