A private roof garden overlooking the Bank of England that appeared in the London Olympics opening ceremony is to be opened up to the public for free for the first time.

The roof garden is at the top of No 1 Poultry, the (in)famous post-modern office block on the corner of Bank junction, and completed in 1997 to a design by James Stirling.

Over the years, it’s had a few changes, but it hasn’t really kept up internally with modern working practices. So the current owner plans to refurbish the building, reopen a disused entrance, and, for the first time, allow the public up to the roof garden for free.

(It once opened for free for a special City weekend, but otherwise is only for restaurant diners)

The roof garden has existed since the building was constructed, but has had a mixed history, as it was always private for the rooftop restaurant, but had to be retrofitted to deal with a suicide and access even to paying customers was restricted. More recently, the carefully cultivated lawns and hedges have been replaced with astroturf.

As part of the refurbishment scheme, the old restaurant is being converted into offices, and they will retain the inner circle space for their roof terrace.

And the rest will be open to the public for free.

Just as interesting is how the public will get there.

When the building first opened in 1997, there was a VIP entrance at the front corner, but in 2016, that was closed, and VIPs were asked to use the same entrance as everyone else. The plans will reopen that entrance, with its rather dramatic stairway, which will lead to a dedicated lift to the roof garden.

Reopening the closed corner entrance / source: planning documents

Although the inner circular garden will remain closed to the public, the planning application suggests it might be opened on selected dates for special events. But opening up the Apex Garden with its views right over Bank junction is still going to excite a lot of people.

Proposed roof space / source: planning documents

Because they need to add an extra lift into the building for public access, but don’t want to alter the roof outline with a large lift box, visitors will take a standard lift up to the 5th floor, and there it’s expected that most people will take a staircase up to the roof garden. However, they’ve also found a way of fitting a platform lift into an old fire access shaft, providing step-free access to the roof as well.

Most of the roof garden will be paved rather than restored to lawn to reflect the expected higher usage, but that also means they can open the roof for evening events with the City skyscrapers as the backdrop.

Proposed evening events / source: planning documents

And the public will be able to visit all this via the former VIP entrance.

Opening the roof garden to the public is part of the changes, which also include modernising the ground-floor retail areas and refurbishing the internal office space.

The planning application has now been submitted to the City of London for their approval.

Inner and Apex gardens / source: planning documents