2-879-436 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

An elevated view of the Central London YMCA from the north-west, with scaffolding and hoardings around the lower storey of the west facade of the podium. It was announced in February 1971 that Laing had started work on a new building at Central London YMCA, to replace an existing building which had opened in the 1910s. The project comprised four residential towers between 6 and 12 storeys high, above a podium. The towers would accommodate 1,200 residents in over 700 single and double bedrooms; staff would be accommodated in penthouse suits on the top of the three lower towers. The towers were built on a two-storey podium containing restaurants, offices, a public library, and shops. Beneath the buildings were basements 16 metres below street level, for car parks, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a sports hall, and a conference centre. The basements and podium, which were built using reinforced concrete and structural steel, comprised Phase I of the project. The towers were built in Phase II. They were clad in 2,000 precast concrete panels and used deeply moulded white concrete window panels, both manufactured by John Laing Concrete in Princes Risborough. The building was completed in 1977, though it was partially occupied by October 1976.