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KPF鈥檚 proposals for a 36-storey tower on Islington鈥檚 Old Street roundabout on the City fringe have been given a public airing.

Due to be submitted for planning early in the new year, the 160m tall office block at 99 City Road is being envisaged as a regeneration scheme aiming to jumpstart the area鈥檚 flagging tech cluster, known as 鈥淪ilicon Roundabout鈥�.

Designed for Endurance Land, the building would contain nearly 500,000sq ft of office space, 5,500sq ft of community space and 6,000sq ft of public realm. A consultation on the plans is currently live and runs until 3 January.

The scheme would see the partial demolition and refurbishment of the Shoreditch site鈥檚 existing building, an office occupied by satellite telecommunications firm Inmarsat, and the construction of a new tower above.

Also on the project team is planning consultant DP9 and public realm consultant Publica.

The 鈥淪ilicon Roundabout鈥�, named in reference to California鈥檚 Silicon Valley, was heavily promoted by former prime minister David Cameron in the years following the 2008 financial crisis as a centre of British tech innovation.

But a number of high-profile firms have left the area in recent years to set up bases in other parts of the capital, including Google, which closed its seven-storey Campus start-up hub last year.

Inmarsat, whose 99 City Road office, next door to TP Bennett鈥檚 Bezier apartments block, has been a longstanding landmark on the roundabout, is expected to vacate its current premises in the coming years.

A tall building study carried out by Islington council in 2018 argued the site should become the 鈥渇ocal point鈥� of the tech cluster and said any tall building would need to be of 鈥渙utstanding architecture鈥� that adds a 鈥渄istinctiveness鈥� to the area.

KPF says its plans would see a 280% increase in public realm compared to the current site, along with a new urban roof garden and 900 cycle parking spaces.

It would also include a 3,000 sq ft triple height space on the ground floor, dubbed the 鈥済reat room鈥�, which would be open to the street during the summer months and would host cultural events.

The practice is working on a number of major office projects in London, including a 23-storey life sciences tower in Canary Wharf which was submitted for planning earlier this month.

Its plans for another life sciences scheme, a 20-storey tower in Southwark, were approved in June this year by London mayor Sadiq Khan two years after being rejected by the local council.