Originally named Britannic House, Citypoint was built in 1967 as a 35-storey, 122-metre (400 ft) tall headquarters for British Petroleum (now BP), becoming the first building in the City of London area to exceed the height of St Paul's Cathedral.

[1] In 1991 British Petroleum moved back to their original headquarters on Finsbury Circus and the building was renamed Britannic Tower.

In August 2005 its owner, Pillar Properties, sold the building for more than £500 million in one of the largest deals ever seen in the City office market.

In early 2007 the building was again put on the market, this time for £650 million, and purchased by Beacon Capital Partners, a private American company.

A few months later, the sale of 8 Canada Square at Canary Wharf eclipsed this when it was sold for over £1 billion.