London & South East

The Drift

The Drift- Heron Tower at 110 Bishopsgate, London- Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2012

Located within Heron Tower at 110 Bishopsgate, London, The Drift is a ground and first floor bar and restaurant from London-based bar group Drake & Morgan.

The 250-cover restaurant incorporates two bars, an open plan kitchen, a chef’s table, alfresco dining area and includes a mouth watering menu with an extensive wine list.

The Drift opened in June 2011 and recently received recognition in the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards in the category of Best Stand Alone Bar or Club. The Drift is Drake & Morgan’s fifth bar and follows the success of the Refinery – Drake & Morgan’s first bar – which opened in Southwark in September 2008, as well as The Parlour, The Anthologist, and the Folly.

Throughout each of its sites, Drake & Morgan’s aim is to provide guests with a unique all-day experience that combines a bar and restaurant against breathtaking interiors. The company was established in 2008 and to date all of its sites have been nominated at the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards.

Work began on The Drift in January 2011 and reached completion in summer 2011 ahead of the restaurant’s opening in June. The £1.6 million project was funded by Drake & Morgan, with Fileturn Ltd as the main contractor.

London-based interior and architecture agency Fusion Design & Architecture provided all architectural services on The Drift.

Fusion Design and Architecture Company Partner, Sophie Douglas, said:

“The Drift is an all day destination venue for the surrounding offices and residents. The restaurant is a 5700 sq ft restaurant and bar that is situated within a double-height space at the foot of the new Heron Tower on Bishopsgate.

“The restaurant’s striking contemporary interior, set over two levels, sits behind a fully glazed facade and provides abundant natural light to the interior whilst giving fantastic visibility from the street.

The Drift- Heron Tower at 110 Bishopsgate, London- Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2012

“The challenge of the project was working within such an unusual double height fully glazed space whilst maintaining the character and personality typical of Drake & Morgan. We also had to link the small ground floor bar and alfresco area with the restaurant and the bar above with a staircase that climbed over 5 meters in height.

“Drake & Morgan are a valued client with whom we love working and developing innovative, design-led concepts on which we pride ourselves on our attention to detail.”

Upon entry into The Drift, guests will instantly notice its striking contemporary interior, which includes a number of dynamic features, such as a mezzanine lounge, gold walls and a fully glazed feature staircase.

The Drift- Heron Tower at 110 Bishopsgate, London- Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2012

The bar is located at ground level, with decorative features including a warm-toned walnut counter top, green-beige profiled tiles, bevelled edge mirror tiles and a steel back bar. Meanwhile, the first floor includes black, white and grey mosaic tiling, fibre optic lights and a marble slab bar.

The first floor also includes an open-plan kitchen and is surrounded by a mix of furniture, including high tables, sunken loungers and multi-coloured blown glass shades. The furniture on the first floor was specifically arranged to create distinct dining areas, whilst a chef’s table was included to provide a semi-private dining area with a view of the kitchen and seafood bar.

Additional features of The Drift include full height mirror-clad food hoists and a warm grey resin floor.

The Drift- Heron Tower at 110 Bishopsgate, London- Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2012

Crown Joinery was responsible for the bespoke joinery and metalwork on the site, whilst Into Lighting provided the lighting. Solus Ceramics was responsible for bespoke decorative tiles and Design Resources provided the site’s dining furniture. Kudos Interiors provided counter stools and the gold wallpaper was supplied by Brian Yates.

Since The Drift’s grand opening the site has continued to prove popular with diners, something noted by the restaurant’s recent success at the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards. Discussing the site’s recent recognition, Sophie commented:

“Whether it is a nomination or an actual award, it is great to achieve recognition for a project in the design industry.

“Our success is based upon the success of the restaurants that we work on, so knowing that The Drift has been so successful is very rewarding for us and is important for our continued success.

“A number of projects that we have worked on have been nominated at the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards before, but this is the first time that we have won an award.”

Sophie added:

“Our work is predominately in the leisure sector and moving forward, we are working on projects for Everyman Cinema in Leeds and Maida Vale, as well as two projects for Drayton Morgan.”

The Drift- Heron Tower at 110 Bishopsgate, London- Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2012

Heron Tower

Heron Tower is a 46-storey building, comprising commercial office space, retail units and restaurant and bars. The tower is owned by Heron International and is currently one of the tallest buildings in London.

Heron Tower was designed by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox and was completed in 2011. The Drift occupies two levels of the building however an additional restaurant – Sushi Samba – and sky bar is also situated within the structure at levels 38 to 40.

Current residents of Heron Tower included McDermott Will & Emery and Landmark, Partners Group, City Capital, Chicago Trading Company and Snoras.

In addition to its many impressive features, Heron Tower also includes Europe’s largest privately owned aquarium. Located in the main lobby of the building, the aquarium is home to an impressive 67 species of tropical fish, including six sharks.

The Drift- Heron Tower at 110 Bishopsgate, London- Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2012

Nagle Fire Ltd

Since 2005, Nagle Fire Ltd has specialised in the provision of fire protection systems for use in the commercial sector. Nagle Fire Ltd supplies and installs fire alarms, fire extinguishers and emergency lighting and conducts fire risk assessments across a range of developments, from schools and retail units through to industrial complexes and hospitality projects.

Nagle Fire Ltd has supplied fire protection systems for many high-profile projects including the College of Richard Collyer and many public houses for Enterprise Inns. Working on the Drift, Nagle Fire Ltd designed, installed and commissioned the fire alarm system that is in operation at the site.

Nagle Fire Ltd Managing Director, Andy Nagle, said:

“Working on the Drift was very important to us. It is great to be involved with new and outstanding projects.”

Andy added:

“At Nagle Fire Ltd we are most proud of the service that we provide and we are very customer orientated. We always listen to our customers and always work to provide them with the system that they want, whilst working within the confines of set safety regulations. We deliver our projects on time and always within budget.”

Kudos Interiors

Kudos Interiors specialise in independently sourcing furniture that meets the requirements of designers, whilst also meeting the budget and deadlines set by clients. The company has been in operation for 17 years and constantly strives to keep its designers up to date with new ranges of furniture.

Over the years, Kudos Interiors has been involved with many well-known clients including Las Iguanas, Pizza Express, BP and Drake & Morgan. In addition, Kudos Interiors works with many schools, colleges and universities as well as a number of blue-chip clients.

On The Drift, Kudos worked closely with Fusion Design & Architects to follow their brief and source various furniture options of indoor and outdoor furniture. Once the furniture was chosen Fusion DNA specified special fabrics for the project and Kudos Interiors purchased and arranged the upholstering of the furniture.

Once the furniture was ready, Kudos Interiors collated all the furniture into its warehouse and coordinated the delivery and installation to meet the tight deadline required.

Kim Dicker, Kudos Interiors, said:

“This project allowed us to work with a well-respected design practice and client on a high profile location and demonstrated our abilities.

“Service to our clients is foremost but we also pride ourselves in our independence and our wide varied relationships with manufacturers enabling us to source most products.”

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