For one weekend in September every year over 500 buildings in London open their doors to the community providing Joe Public an unparalleled opportunity to view the inner mysteries of buildings that are otherwise simply passed by every day. With over 350,000 visitors during 2003?s event it is now one of London?s worst kept secrets. A secret is still a secret and I found out about the event by chance from my current manager just this week. So on last night, armed with the ever helpful Openhouse London website, I set about planning my weekend.

Some of the more interesting and popular venues had apparently been pre-booked back in March (see what I mean about worst kept secrets) however, I still managed to find a building or two that caught my interest. This was my proposed schedule:

Saturday
– Lloyd?s of London (City of London)
– Plantation Place (City of London)
– More London ? Ernst and Young HQ (Southwark)
– BBC Television Centre (Hammersmith and Fulham)
– The Ark (Hammersmith and Fulham)

Sunday
– 30 St Mary Axe, a building affectionately known as the (erotic) ?Gherkin? (City of London)
– Old Turkish Baths (City of London)

For some reason I didn?t think the above was overly ambitious convincing myself that I would need an hour tops (allowing for lines and touring) at each venue and therefore I could afford to have a lazy Saturday morning before heading out. Boy was I wrong.

Lloyd?s of London. Lloyd?s of London is a magnificent piece of architecture designed by Lord Richard Rogers (I?ll let the picture of the miniature model speak for itself) and it was actually one of the first buildings I noticed when I first visited London back in February 2003. I knew that there would be some sort of queue for this building but I didn?t expect that it would snake all the way around the block. Turning corner after corner to see the queue stretch out beyond what the eye could see nearly convinced me to seek alternative buildings but I figured that since I was already at the building there was no harm in standing in line for a little while ? it took over an hour to get into the building (for your interest it was only 184 steps). Once inside I felt a little bit unsettled. The ground floor is a vast room where most of Lloyd?s underwriting business is carried out. To see it empty when ordinarily it would be filled to capacity with the hustle and bustle of deals being made was quite eerie. It is an inspiring building and was well worth the wait. One of the best views was from the external glass lifts which provided an eagle eye view over the ?Gherkin?.

“Plantation Place. This was my favourite building (actually two buildings joined together) of the weekend. Not only were there no lines to get in (yay!) but access to the 10th floor balcony provided an opportunity to view the London skyline unhindered by glass.

According to the architect Arup Associates the building takes up nearly an entire block (in this case 1.02 hectares) so its not a small development by any stretch of the imagination. With sustainability in mind the buildings have been designed to ensure the most efficient use of energy, light and water.

By the time I had finished with Lloyd?s and Plantation Place it was actually getting on to mid-afternoon but I was still hoping that I could get in a quick visit to the EY HQ before heading out to Hammersmith and Fulham.

More London ? Ernst and Young HQ. Unfortunately I didn?t count on having to wait so long in the EY HQ queue. I don?t think it was quite an hour but it was surprisingly a long wait considering that there were only 20 people in front of me (in contrast with the 150 or so in front of me at Lloyd?s) and we only had to move about 20 metres. It turns out that the reason for the queues was that guided tours were being given of the building and there were only two tour guides! Located just down the river from City Hall the building?s location is perfect with panoramic views over the River Thames and surrounding areas. The building is quite distinctive with its two glass and steel wings joined by a series of walkways and interestingly each floor is colour coded with over 300 works of art are installed throughout the building.

Following the latest trends in new building most floors were built with meeting rooms in the middle and open plan offices around the outside to maximize light. During the tour we were taken to an actual working floor (no photos allowed of course) and were surprised to hear that executives worked out amongst the slaves, er, I mean the general working staff. No plush comfy offices for them.

Unfortunately that took me pretty much up to the end of building opening hours and I could not fit in a visit to Hammersmith for the BBC Television Centre and The Ark. Maybe if I?m around next year I could try again ?

Steps taken today: 15,637