LONDON | Project Compilation Thread

[Bedhead]

Work on the Heron tower:





And across the river, everything is pointing to Strata being ready soon:


my pics

[Bedhead]

A design for London's new US embassy has been chosen. Instead of a plinth, parking and other basement services are hidden underneath a landscaped mound, whose moat etc. also serves a security function.


http://blog.kierantimberlake.com/new...-in-london-488
Kieren Timberlake, Kierantimberlake.com


http://blog.kierantimberlake.com/new...-in-london-488
Kieren Timberlake, Kierantimberlake.com

[IciLondres]

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Property developer British Land /quotes/comstock/23s!a:blnd (UK:BLND 479.10, +0.80, +0.17%) said Wednesday that it has signed a total of 465,000 square feet of new lettings at its recently-completed London office developments since February. An additional 154,000 sq ft is under offer, the firm added. Together the new lettings increase the group's overall office occupancy rate from 84% to 92% and have a weighted average lease length of 15 years to first break. The terms agreed exceed the December 2009 estimated rental values and will add an additional 19 million pounds of headline rent per annum to the group.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bri...als-2010-03-31

[IciLondres]

I think the London Standard announced the name prematurely and the story has been removed from the website as fast as it was put up.

Anyway, Anish Kapoor's Olympic sculptue, inspired by the Tower of Babel is by all accounts fantastic and extraordinary.

Er, I mean nearly all accounts, as one "journalist" wasn't impressed even though he reckoned it was "twice the height of the (442') London Eye".

[IciLondres]

Fantastic. The Olympic rings, the industrial past of that part of London where I was born and the WTF-is-that Tower of Babel effect. The halfwit in Property whatever News/weekly/Daily who complained it doesn't fit in with the surroundings is sort of right. But then if you are going to do anything half imaginative what would blend in with the very underwhelming Olympic stadium?

There are people who are going to go to the Olympics and after the sport are going to remember this folly more than the stadium itself.

The only problems:

1/ 700 visitors an hour.

2/ If only halfwit had been right and it actually was going to be higher than One Canada Square!

[Bedhead]

Seems like a wasted opportunity to me. London already has so much great steel/ironwork - the Millenium Bridge, the British Library reading room, the Palmhouse at Kew, Smithfield Market. They all have a lightness and elegance about them - they are classy structures that do a job well. This is all fur coat and no knickers.

The only good things I can say about it are:

It's better than that sh!t logo

It'll keep Fathers for Justice occupied for a while

It will satiate any passing curiousity that people may have about Dagenham, without them having to make the trip over there.

[wjfox2004]

• Video Link

[Dale]

Question: has the Guy's Hospital's reclad commenced ?

[wjfox2004]

Strata is nearing external completion.

[wjfox2004]

Originally Posted by Dale

Question: has the Guy's Hospital's reclad commenced ?

I don't think so.

[IciLondres]

You heard it here first

[Bedhead]

[Dale]

Woot!

[IciLondres]

Developer British Land is planning to start work on the 47-storey Leadenhall in London, signalling the property recovery in London is gaining pace.

The firm said: “We are considering restarting the development of our 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall building in the City and are exploring interest from a potential partner.”

The distinctive wedge-shaped building, nicknamed the Cheesegrater, was due to go-ahead three years ago but stalled when the property bubble burst.

At the time Bovis Lend Lease was in line to build the £290m building.

Unveiling strong year-end results, British Land said the property market had improved significantly and it would be going ahead with several other stalled projects.

“We expect to complete the buildings during 2013 and 2014, when we expect market demand for Grade A London office space to be strong and supply limited, ” said British Land.

“Toward the end of the year, strengthening demand and asset prices in the Central London office market saw the economics of development improving significantly.”

“As a result, we took the decision to commit nearly £500 million to developing three office schemes in Central London with an aggregate floorspace of over 1.2 million sq ft.”

The developer said it was also planning to start building work this year on 750,000 sq ft of consented space on its existing retail parks.


http://www.constructionenquirer.com/...-cheesegrater/

[IciLondres]

Poor JPM, stuck between a rock and a hard place, Obama or Vince Cable. How the hell the west ended up in this mess is beyond me. Anyway this about sums up the situation with Riverside South. The betting still has to be against because, thanks to dumb politicians, everyone seems to be fed up with trying to do business in London.

JP Morgan in dilemma over costly London skyscraper
Sinead Cruise and Steve Slater
LONDON


LONDON (Reuters) - JP Morgan (JPM.N) chief Jamie Dimon faces an unenviable choice - splash out $3 billion on much-needed but lavish new London headquarters or cull the twin skyscrapers in a nod to the war on banking extravagance.

Deals

The U.S. bank is dragging its heels on the glamorous plan, fearing it could rile regulators determined to bring mega-banks considered "too big to fail" under tighter control, sources in the banking and property industries said.

"It is a massive dilemma for them. They need new space to grow but they don't want to make a hasty decision," said one property industry source.

"The reasons for doing this or not doing this are becoming less and less about real estate and more and more about politics," the source said.

The 3 million square foot complex comprises two towers of 28 and 34 floors overlooking the river Thames, linked by a lower-rise office containing three trading floors, the website of architects Adamson Associates shows.

The decision rests squarely on the shoulders of Dimon, who steered his bank away from the big sub-prime losses of many rivals, picking up failed banks Washington Mutual, Wachovia and Bear Stearns at knock-down prices on the way.

Cost considerations will play an overriding role in the decision. But the sources said the lender may also decide to axe or scale down the plan to sweeten regulators.

JPMorgan has already repaid the $25 billion of taxpayer rescue funds it received during the crisis, but the shock fraud probe on powerhouse Goldman Sachs has shown even the strongest banks are not immune from regulatory attack.

"It looks like it will be a political decision -- can you really spend almost 2 billion pounds ($2.87 billion) with everything else that's going on?," another source in the property industry said.

JP Morgan declined to comment.

SCHEME

JPMorgan signed a deal with Canary Wharf Group (CWG), the operators of the eponymous business district, in late 2008, part of a long-held ambition to consolidate its scattered London workforce in one corporate-branded complex.

The bank bought the site of the prospective new offices at Canary Wharf Riverside for 237 million pounds and appointed CWG as development and construction manager.

JPMorgan has agreed to cover the costs for completed infrastructure, design and planning works and pay CWG 76 million pounds representing a portion of developer profits on the scheme if it postpones or scraps the development altogether.

"We continue to work on the design, planning, piling, raft construction and further infrastructure works for Riverside South... Advanced construction is pending a decision by JP Morgan," a CWG spokesman said.

With politicians on a mission to show voters they are getting tough on banks, industry sources suggest the public profile of the bank could suffer if the building goes ahead.

Dimon faced a double bind at the bank's shareholder meeting this week from homeowners whose properties Chase is foreclosing, and investors who want dividends raised.

Sources described the bank's former European investment banking head Bill Winters as a key champion of the Canary Wharf move, but say enthusiasm has waned since he left.

Property market sources said JPMorgan may be tempted to swap the massive attention-grabbing spend on the Riverside South building for a cheaper letting deal at one of several office developments planned in or close to the City of London.

"It's not inconceivable that they stay in the City ... one property source said. "CWG could be willing to cut a deal if it becomes clear the Riverside South plan is incompatible with a crackdown on banks."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64K4BF20100521

[wjfox2004]

Blazing hot sunshine in London today... 25°C

[wjfox2004]

[IciLondres]

[wjfox2004]

I uploaded a video -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceKY-KGPEwg

[wjfox2004]

And another:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fP18CaU6vk