wyliepoon
Senior Member
Link to article
Castles in the air? The London building phenomenon
By Jonathan Russell, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:37am BST 02/09/2007
Five groups have ambitious plans to build five spectacular towers in London. But after the stock market tumbles of recent weeks, will all of them get off the ground? Jonathan Russell looks at the odds.
The models look spectacular. In five offices across London, new concepts in architecture from the twisting spire of a helter-skelter to the rude bulge of the walkie-talkie are already a reality. Lovingly created out of Perspex and glass, the replica towers, representing buildings that may not be completed until 2012, tower all of two feet above their poorer cousins. The scale is perfect, revealing not just the height of the new buildings but the soaring ambition of the developers involved and their view of the future.
But this ambition and the uncomfortable reality of London's history in building towers is making people question whether all five of the City buildings will be built. Each of the buildings - the Richard Rogers-designed "Cheese Grater" in Leadenhall Street, Kohn Pedersen Fox's Helter Skelter in Bishopsgate, the Heron Tower also designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and in Bishopsgate, Rafael Vinoly's "Walkie-Talkie" in Fenchurch Street and the Renzo Piano's masterful "Shard of Glass" - are nearing critical moments in their delivery process.
On four of the sites demolition work on the existing buildings has already started. The other one, the Walkie Talkie, has not got beyond the planning stage.
But for all the progress made, the truth of the matter is that at almost any stage in a building's creation, from design, through planning, to clearance of the existing site, up to and sometimes including the point when building work actually starts, the plug can be pulled.
Talk to the companies involved about their own towers and the message is clear, they will get built, but talk to them about the others and the message is almost equally emphatic: some of the others will not.
A source who asked not to be identified said: "Some of these projects just don't make sense in the current market. You have to look at three main things with towers: the location, the design and the financing. If you get all three of those right, the project should work. Get one of those wrong and you are in trouble."
What the source could have added to his thesis is that it is not just location, design and financing that is against some of these buildings, it is also history.
Of the tallest 50 buildings conceived for London's skyline, just five have ever been built. True, 12 were never any more than visions, including the mile-high Populararchitecture Concept Tower, which, with its 500 floors, had no chance of ever being constructed.
But others were supposed to be the real deal - including the London Millennium Tower designed by Norman Foster & Partners that would have stood in the place of Swiss Re's Gherkin. In total, according to the website Skyscrapernews.com, 17 of the top 50 have been cancelled, seven are still in the twilight zone pre-planning permission, while one, of which more later, was demolished in 1907.
But tower developers do not by nature look at the past. What they are creating is a building and a statement about the future.
Take Gerald Ronson, the property mogul and developer behind the 806ft Heron Tower. "We are building the best building in the City of London in terms of finishing and its environmental impact," he says. "It will set new standards in office buildings."
The tone is bullish - but no more or less bullish than his contemporaries. Stephen Hester, chief executive of British Land, the company building the "Cheese Grater", says: "Our building will be the first one up, the best location and the best design. It is going to be by far the best product and the most attractive to occupiers."
Ditto Khalid Affara, managing director of Arab Investments, who, despite being the least experienced of the developers, is confident the towers can be a success even if the market turns against them. He says: "The question is whether 2010 and 2011 will be a good time for buildings to be finished and we think it will. The market is moving in the right direction. I also believe that towers are a different segment of the market. They are very popular in the City. Who would have thought that Tower 42 would still be popular today?"
But despite the optimism, the sentiment is growing increasingly sceptical about some of the towers. British Land has said it will develop its 47-storey Leadenhall Street building and as the second biggest property company in the UK it seems hard to argue against it. But people are questioning whether the building's design is right and how easy it will be to let the smaller floors at the top of the tower.
Gerald Ronson's Heron International and Arab Investments have also both said that they will go ahead with their buildings. Both are backed by Middle Eastern petro-dollars, which must count in their favour. But detractors would point to the old-fashioned layout of the Heron Tower with its small floorplates surrounding a central lift shaft as an inelegant solution, while the Arab Investments team is painfully inexperienced. True, the company recently appointed Multiplex to lead the £500m construction of the 46-storey Helter Skelter, but, given the company's appalling record with the new Wembley stadium, this did little to silence the critics.
But for different reasons it is the last of the two towers that is creating most uncertainty. Land Securities' building in Leadenhall Street has already been arguably the most controversial of the five. It only got the go-ahead in July after a public inquiry into the design and whether it would detract from views of the Tower of London. The delay set the company back a crucial few months in its decision on whether or not to build, meaning the project is the only one of the five not to have been given the unequivocal green light.
Mike Hussey, managing director of Land Securities' London portfolio, says: "Construction costs have gone up and we have to be careful to make sure that we are delivering the building to the market at the right time. We won't develop it unless we have a tenant signed up for a pre-let or we find a joint venture partner."
Although Hussey's caution is in marked contrast to his peers, he is in the more comfortable position of not having committed himself to develop, as he says: "If we decide to hold for a while before developing the site it won't be the end of the world."
As Hussey explains, the key to his decision to develop - and top of the agenda for many of the other companies - will be whether they can get tenants to sign up before the building is constructed. Through pre-lets, a developer can reduce the risk on a project significantly and is therefore more likely to get the banks to hand over the millions required to put their buildings up.
Strange then that the one tower that has significant pre-lets, the Shard of Glass, is the one that in most people's minds is the least likely to be developed. Despite signing Transport for London to take nearly 20 per cent of the available space, and hotel operator Shangri-La agreeing to take a similar allocation, the consortium behind the development has still not nailed down the financing for the project. The development team, led by Sellar Property Group with entrepreneur Simon Halabi and the listed property group CLS, were the only party to decline to be interviewed by The Sunday Telegraph.
Market speculation suggests that rising construction costs against the relatively low rent agreed with Transport for London have put the squeeze on the project's financial planning.
Whatever the outcome of the Shard's fundraising efforts, the consortium has started preparation work on the site. The official word is the group still plans to build the 72-storey tower, the tallest of the five.
The groups certainly all have high ambitions. But then so did one of the most infamous tower adventures ever undertaken in the UK.
Exactly a century ago, Sir Edward Watkins, then chairman of the Metropolitan Railway, and Sir Benjamin Baker, the engineer behind the Forth Bridge in Scotland, drew the curtain on one of the most ambitious engineering projects ever attempted in the UK. The pair tried to put one over the French by building a 1,200ft tower to dwarf the Eiffel Tower. The structure was going to have Turkish baths, a dancing hall and restaurants on platforms reaching up the tower - on the site now occupied by Wembley Stadium. But construction never got beyond 200 feet before it started to sink into the ground, forcing it to be demolished in 1907.
A century on, the hope must be that the modern towers are being built on firmer foundations.
Castles in the air? The London building phenomenon
By Jonathan Russell, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:37am BST 02/09/2007
Five groups have ambitious plans to build five spectacular towers in London. But after the stock market tumbles of recent weeks, will all of them get off the ground? Jonathan Russell looks at the odds.
The models look spectacular. In five offices across London, new concepts in architecture from the twisting spire of a helter-skelter to the rude bulge of the walkie-talkie are already a reality. Lovingly created out of Perspex and glass, the replica towers, representing buildings that may not be completed until 2012, tower all of two feet above their poorer cousins. The scale is perfect, revealing not just the height of the new buildings but the soaring ambition of the developers involved and their view of the future.
But this ambition and the uncomfortable reality of London's history in building towers is making people question whether all five of the City buildings will be built. Each of the buildings - the Richard Rogers-designed "Cheese Grater" in Leadenhall Street, Kohn Pedersen Fox's Helter Skelter in Bishopsgate, the Heron Tower also designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and in Bishopsgate, Rafael Vinoly's "Walkie-Talkie" in Fenchurch Street and the Renzo Piano's masterful "Shard of Glass" - are nearing critical moments in their delivery process.
On four of the sites demolition work on the existing buildings has already started. The other one, the Walkie Talkie, has not got beyond the planning stage.
But for all the progress made, the truth of the matter is that at almost any stage in a building's creation, from design, through planning, to clearance of the existing site, up to and sometimes including the point when building work actually starts, the plug can be pulled.
Talk to the companies involved about their own towers and the message is clear, they will get built, but talk to them about the others and the message is almost equally emphatic: some of the others will not.
A source who asked not to be identified said: "Some of these projects just don't make sense in the current market. You have to look at three main things with towers: the location, the design and the financing. If you get all three of those right, the project should work. Get one of those wrong and you are in trouble."
What the source could have added to his thesis is that it is not just location, design and financing that is against some of these buildings, it is also history.
Of the tallest 50 buildings conceived for London's skyline, just five have ever been built. True, 12 were never any more than visions, including the mile-high Populararchitecture Concept Tower, which, with its 500 floors, had no chance of ever being constructed.
But others were supposed to be the real deal - including the London Millennium Tower designed by Norman Foster & Partners that would have stood in the place of Swiss Re's Gherkin. In total, according to the website Skyscrapernews.com, 17 of the top 50 have been cancelled, seven are still in the twilight zone pre-planning permission, while one, of which more later, was demolished in 1907.
But tower developers do not by nature look at the past. What they are creating is a building and a statement about the future.
Take Gerald Ronson, the property mogul and developer behind the 806ft Heron Tower. "We are building the best building in the City of London in terms of finishing and its environmental impact," he says. "It will set new standards in office buildings."
The tone is bullish - but no more or less bullish than his contemporaries. Stephen Hester, chief executive of British Land, the company building the "Cheese Grater", says: "Our building will be the first one up, the best location and the best design. It is going to be by far the best product and the most attractive to occupiers."
Ditto Khalid Affara, managing director of Arab Investments, who, despite being the least experienced of the developers, is confident the towers can be a success even if the market turns against them. He says: "The question is whether 2010 and 2011 will be a good time for buildings to be finished and we think it will. The market is moving in the right direction. I also believe that towers are a different segment of the market. They are very popular in the City. Who would have thought that Tower 42 would still be popular today?"
But despite the optimism, the sentiment is growing increasingly sceptical about some of the towers. British Land has said it will develop its 47-storey Leadenhall Street building and as the second biggest property company in the UK it seems hard to argue against it. But people are questioning whether the building's design is right and how easy it will be to let the smaller floors at the top of the tower.
Gerald Ronson's Heron International and Arab Investments have also both said that they will go ahead with their buildings. Both are backed by Middle Eastern petro-dollars, which must count in their favour. But detractors would point to the old-fashioned layout of the Heron Tower with its small floorplates surrounding a central lift shaft as an inelegant solution, while the Arab Investments team is painfully inexperienced. True, the company recently appointed Multiplex to lead the £500m construction of the 46-storey Helter Skelter, but, given the company's appalling record with the new Wembley stadium, this did little to silence the critics.
But for different reasons it is the last of the two towers that is creating most uncertainty. Land Securities' building in Leadenhall Street has already been arguably the most controversial of the five. It only got the go-ahead in July after a public inquiry into the design and whether it would detract from views of the Tower of London. The delay set the company back a crucial few months in its decision on whether or not to build, meaning the project is the only one of the five not to have been given the unequivocal green light.
Mike Hussey, managing director of Land Securities' London portfolio, says: "Construction costs have gone up and we have to be careful to make sure that we are delivering the building to the market at the right time. We won't develop it unless we have a tenant signed up for a pre-let or we find a joint venture partner."
Although Hussey's caution is in marked contrast to his peers, he is in the more comfortable position of not having committed himself to develop, as he says: "If we decide to hold for a while before developing the site it won't be the end of the world."
As Hussey explains, the key to his decision to develop - and top of the agenda for many of the other companies - will be whether they can get tenants to sign up before the building is constructed. Through pre-lets, a developer can reduce the risk on a project significantly and is therefore more likely to get the banks to hand over the millions required to put their buildings up.
Strange then that the one tower that has significant pre-lets, the Shard of Glass, is the one that in most people's minds is the least likely to be developed. Despite signing Transport for London to take nearly 20 per cent of the available space, and hotel operator Shangri-La agreeing to take a similar allocation, the consortium behind the development has still not nailed down the financing for the project. The development team, led by Sellar Property Group with entrepreneur Simon Halabi and the listed property group CLS, were the only party to decline to be interviewed by The Sunday Telegraph.
Market speculation suggests that rising construction costs against the relatively low rent agreed with Transport for London have put the squeeze on the project's financial planning.
Whatever the outcome of the Shard's fundraising efforts, the consortium has started preparation work on the site. The official word is the group still plans to build the 72-storey tower, the tallest of the five.
The groups certainly all have high ambitions. But then so did one of the most infamous tower adventures ever undertaken in the UK.
Exactly a century ago, Sir Edward Watkins, then chairman of the Metropolitan Railway, and Sir Benjamin Baker, the engineer behind the Forth Bridge in Scotland, drew the curtain on one of the most ambitious engineering projects ever attempted in the UK. The pair tried to put one over the French by building a 1,200ft tower to dwarf the Eiffel Tower. The structure was going to have Turkish baths, a dancing hall and restaurants on platforms reaching up the tower - on the site now occupied by Wembley Stadium. But construction never got beyond 200 feet before it started to sink into the ground, forcing it to be demolished in 1907.
A century on, the hope must be that the modern towers are being built on firmer foundations.
