Citypoint

Citypoint (previously known as Britannic House and Britannic Tower) is a skyscraper located on Ropemaker Street on the northern part of the City of London, the main financial district and historic center of London.

Originally named Britannic House, Citypoint was built in 1967 as a 35-storey, 122 metres (400 ft) tall headquarters for British Petroleum (now BP). This became the first building in the City of London area to pass the height of St. Paul's Cathedral. The designers were F. Milton Cashmore and H. N. W. Grosvenor. In 1991 British Petroleum moved back to their original headquarters on Finsbury Circus and the building was renamed Britannic Tower.

It was refurbished in 2000, with additional floor space and the height increased to 127 metres (417 ft). Sheppard Robson helped to improve the building. It was then renamed to Citypoint.

Citypoint is the seventh-tallest building in the City, after the Heron Tower, 122 Leadenhall Street, Tower 42, 30 St Mary Axe, Broadgate Tower and 20 Fenchurch Street but only the 23rd-tallest in Greater London.

In August 2005 its owner, Pillar Properties, sold the building for more than £500 million in one of the largest deals ever seen in the City office market.

In early 2007 the building was again put on the market, this time for £650 million, and purchased by a private American company called Beacon Capital Partners. At the time it was the most expensive building sale in the United Kingdom. However 8 Canada Square at Canary Wharf eclipsed this by some margin just a few months later when it was sold for over £1 billion.

A number of other large buildings are planned on sites nearby. These include a 43-storey, 140 metres (459 ft) residential tower at Milton Court. A 90 metres (295 ft) office tower at Ropemaker Place has also been developed by British Land.