20 Fenchurch Street (Walkie-Talkie)

20 Fenchurch Street is a skyscraper in the City of London, the old financial district of London, England. People call it the Walkie-Talkie because its shape is said to look like a walkie-talkie radio. It is 160 metres tall with 38 storeys.

It was designed by the architect Rafael Viñoly and finished in spring 2014. Its top is wider than its base, so it looks as if it bursts upward and outward. A three-floor Sky Garden, a public garden with views, opened at the top in January 2015.

Design and controversy

The tower was first planned at nearly 200 metres tall, but the design was scaled down after people worried about its effect on views of St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London. It was approved in 2006 at the lower height, and after a public inquiry in 2007 it received full planning permission.

The building cost more than 200 million pounds. In 2015 it won the Carbuncle Cup, an award given to the UK's worst new building of the year.

What is inside

The ground floor and 34 floors of offices are topped by a large viewing deck. A bar and restaurants sit on the 35th, 36th and 37th floors, and these are open to the public with some restrictions.

The old building on the site was a 91-metre, 25-storey tower from 1968. The new tower is owned by the Hong Kong company Lee Kum Kee since July 2017.

On the globe

The model shows the top-heavy tower whose floors grow wider toward the top, with its glass Sky Garden.