A trio of explosions has informed the history of tower building in London over recent decades. The first was metaphorical, Margaret Thatcher's Big Bang - the deregulation of the UK's financial services sector in 1986. This, together with technological innovations, turned the City of London and Docklands into a forcing frame for new offices, both groundscrapers (which, we were told briefly, were essential for large trading floors) then skyscrapers, as the arrival of flat screens and rapidly changing practices meant trading floors were out, so it was time to think taller rather than Broadgate. The next big bang for London's financial architecture was the evening of 10 April 1992 when the Provisional IRA detonated a one-tonne truck bomb outside the Baltic Exchange in the City. Later the same night, a second massive IRA blast tore through Staples Corner in north London. London felt under siege. As was the intent.
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