East India Dock House, former Financial Times Print Works

East India Dock House, formerly the Financial Times Print Works

This is a steel-framed printing and production facility designed by Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, completed in 1987–88. The building was converted to a data centre in the late 1990s.

The structure employs a steel frame clad with vacuum-formed aluminium panels at both ends, while the central sections of the principal elevations are entirely glazed. The glass walls are built from 2-metre-square panes bolted at their intersections to external cantilevering armatures attached to aerofoil posts. Tension cabling carries much of the weight of the glass. The posts support pairs of perforated I-beams and hold the transverse trusses that take part of the load of the flat roof; internal columns running along the spine of the building carry the remainder.

The building is rectangular in plan, approximately 145 metres by 50 metres and three storeys tall, located on the south side of East India Dock Road (A13) within the walls of the former docks. The principal elevation, facing north towards the passing traffic, was designed as a full-height display cabinet for the printing presses. The south elevation features projecting pods containing fire escapes, a central stairwell, lifts, and the main entrance.

The aluminium-clad end sections, which are unequal in length with quadrant corners, were originally used for paper storage and despatch. They consist of vertically fluted oblong panels sitting between horizontal rails, entirely blind except for doorways and ventilation louvres that follow the pattern of the cladding. The glazed central section is divided laterally into two clear-span voids of 18 metres width on either side of a 12-metre service spine. The northern section originally held the presses; the southern section held an independent frame providing the structure for offices. The glazed sections are characterised by aerofoil fins set at 6-metre centres, with projecting armatures and cabling that express the structural system.

The stair tower pods on the south elevation are oblong in plan with semi-circular ends, clad in flat aluminium panels and standing apart from the main building. The central two pods contain bands of glazing and frame the main entrance, now fitted with a modern high-security door.

The building is defined by the uniformity and regularity of its prefabricated aluminium panelling and glass walling system, with a palette of muted grey tones.

The spinal wall that originally enclosed the print hall is believed to survive internally. All other internal finishes and fixtures relate to the late-1990s conversion to a data centre and are excluded from the listing under section 1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.

There are a number of detached pods in the grounds holding plant and services, and serving as gatehouses.