The Lloyd's building: brand monument

At a time when the capital’s new generation of skyscrapers are known for their physical similarities – the Gherkin, the Shard, the Cheese Grater and the Walkie Talkie – Richard Rogers’ modernist masterpiece is one of the few buildings that remains synonymous with its occupants, 25 years after it opened.  

Balancing act
Rogers said his design was “a balance between permanence and transformation” – a phrase that could aptly describe Lloyd’s itself. The building could be said to personify the market that calls it home: an innovative and ground-breaking solution to its client’s needs that is also efficient and practical, the building acknowledges the market’s deep debt to its history while being firmly focused on the future. It’s unsurprising that the building has become an integral part of the Lloyd’s image and brand.

The brief given by Lloyd’s to each of the six internationally renowned architects chosen to compete was identical: “Create a building of quality which not only contributes to the environment of the City of London but also maintains Lloyd’s position as the centre of the world’s insurance.”

Winning strategy
Rogers won the commission not because of his architectural design, but for his strategy for meeting the market’s future demands. As part of its brief, Lloyd’s required the architects to study the market for four months and provide it with a design that met those needs.

Rogers’ “inside out” design was radical, but, above all, pragmatic: by placing all the services – from its lifts to its lavatories – on the building’s exterior, the building’s interior could be remodelled at will. This meant the underwriting space, ‘the Room’, could expand or contract as the market’s needs demanded.

Icon for an iconic brand
The iconic building has become a major draw in its own right. Tourists gather outside to be photographed in front of the unique façade while thousands of insurance guests visit the building each year. Their trips are an invaluable marketing tool, says Ralph van Helden, Lloyd’s Benelux Country Manager.

“There are a number of highlights for visitors: the underwriting Room with the rostrum and the Lutine Bell; the view from the 11th floor, down through the vast atrium to the ground floor; and, of course, the Adam Room,” he says.

“They stick in the mind of every visitor long after they’ve gone home. And so they help Lloyd’s to stick in their minds too,” van Helden tells lloyds.com.

Lloyd’s as leader
It could be said Lloyd’s was ahead of its time back in the late 1970s in approving a new headquarters that would embody its brand, says Andy Milligan, a marketing guru and author of a number of books on branding. “For the boldest, most forward-thinking companies today there has to be congruence between their building, its purpose and what the company stands for, it’s brand. The days are long gone when firms put up a big HQ to send out the message ‘Aren’t we great?’”

Milligan adds: “Today, it’s all about thinking what the brand experience for your business is and the Lloyd’s building remains a big part of this for Lloyd’s. Richard Rogers designed the building to create the perfect environment for the world’s greatest insurance market. Twenty-five years on and it still is.”

Van Helden agrees. "Some people regard the building as ugly, but I disagree. The architect and Lloyd’s wanted to create an industrial building and they were so successful that it’s beautiful. What Lloyd’s and Richard Rogers did was to create an absolutely unique building, one that encapsulates the idea that an entire industry is housed under one roof. There’s only one Lloyd’s and there’s only one Lloyd’s Building. Both are one offs."