Views from tops of tall towers are always impressive, so the chance to go up to the 18th floor of a newish City skyscraper is not to be missed for us Tower Completists.

The Broadgate Tower is one of what will eventually be a cluster of towers near Shoreditch, although it actually sits within the framework of the 1980s Broadgate development and was constructed between 2005 to 2009.

It sits directly over the train tracks on a huge concrete slab, the construction of which caused considerable delays as they could only work when the trains weren’t running.

The building is also the first in the UK to sport double-decker lifts, with the lower deck doors opening to odd-numbered floors and the upper deck, unsurprisingly opening on even-numbered floors. The entrance escalators also reflect that demarcation. Double-decker lifts have the advantage that you can carry a lot more people in far fewer lifts – a problem which can eat up valuable floor space in tall buildings.

Otherwise, its a fairly generic tall building with the core running up one side, so that the windows can wrap around about 300 degrees of each floor (pdf of the floorplan). Studying the floorplan shows that men get 6 toilets (3 urinals, 3 cubicles) and women get just 4 cubicles. No wonder women’s toilets always have a queue outside!

There are some very odd nooks in the corners of each floor as the steel supports jut into the office space, and personally floor to ceiling glass scares me – I prefer something solid by the floor to reassure me I wont smash out of the building by accident.

Anyway, you only came here for the photos, so here they are: