City Hall: Balcony gardens to ‘modernise’ vacant building

City Hall was purpose-designed by Lord Norman Foster as the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) headquarters and was opened by the Queen in 2002.

Former mayor Ken Livingstone referred to it as a “glass testicle”, while his successor Boris Johnson dubbed it the “glass gonad”.

In 2020 it was reported that the building was costing the GLA £11.1m a year, including rent to St Martins, plus service charges and rates. This was due to rise to £12.6m a year after Christmas 2021.

The decision to move the GLA’s headquarters to the Crystal building in Newham – which it owned – was made by mayor Sadiq Khan.

He argued in 2020 that the move would “save £55 million over five years, which would help us to protect and invest in the things that matter most to Londoners, as well as supporting the regeneration of the Royal Docks”.

The GLA has been based at its new headquarters from early 2022.