Mini Big Ben restored in E1

As Big Ben celebrates its 150th birthday this year and its position in the top spot as Britain's favourite landmark,* one of its smaller relatives has been given a new lease of life. A quarter sized version of Big Ben at Sugar House in Leman Street, E1 has been restored to conservation standard after being in a state of disrepair for over 20 years.

Thwaites & Reed, the original manufacturers who made the clock in 1887, have been responsible for its restoration. They were also responsible for maintaining The Great Clock of Westminster - more commonly known as Big Ben - for over thirty years and the Sugar House design is based on the many unusual technical features of Big Ben.

The clock is the crowning feature of Sugar House, a Grade II listed building which is being transformed into a collection of 42 unique new apartments and penthouses by Berkeley Homes. The building was originally built as the headquarters of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, what is now known as the Co-op, and also housed a sugar warehouse. Now it will provide some of the finest historical conversion homes close to the City of London.

One of the penthouses will incorporate the base of the clock tower as an octagonal mezzanine level room, creating a truly bespoke property. Fortunately for the resident, the clock will no longer chime, as it has now been converted to operate with a digital mechanism, rather than pendulum.

Piers Clanford, Managing Director of Berkeley Homes (South East London) Ltd, comments: "As this is such a beautiful, listed building, it was vital that we chose the original manufacturer to restore the clock to working order. When the building was first constructed, it was in an age before people had wrist watches so the community would use this clock to tell the time. The building remains one of the area's most notable landmarks."

Melvyn Lee of Thwaites & Reed commented: "We are delighted to be restoring this very special clock and working with Berkeley Homes to bring back to life an important historical building."

The original clock at Sugar House had quarter and hourly chimes, which were activated by gravity weights that stretched down over four floors in the clock tower. In its day, it set new standards for precision and its inner workings are impressive - the carefully crafted dials, measuring 8 feet 6 inches in diameter, are cast iron skeletons with internal counterpoised motion-work. Each clock hand had been skilfully fashioned from ribbed copper and the original glass is German opal. The careful restoration of the clock and the tower is being completed to English Heritage standards.

Thwaites & Reed are a distinguished firm, operating as clockmakers for over 250 years. They are still responsible for the ongoing and highly specialised maintenance of some of the world's most famous clocks.

Sugar House is part of the transformation of the historic Goodmans Fields site in London's E1, into City Quarter - a new residential quarter for the City of London. The scheme provides over 300 new homes, combining the conversion building as well as the newly built homes in the adjoining buildings designed by architects Sheppard and Robson. City Quarter is one of the largest residential regeneration projects to be undertaken in the City for over a decade.

Prices for the apartments at Sugar House start from £465,000 for a one-bedroom apartment and from £675,000 for a two-bedroom apartment. Two-bedroom penthouses are for sale, priced from £1.1 million.

For further information or to view the show apartment, contact the City Quarter Sales and Marketing Suite at 99 Leman Street, E1, which is open 10am to 6pm weekdays (until 8pm on Tuesdays) and from 10am to 5pm on weekends. Alternatively, visit Cityquarter.co.uk.