LONDON | Project Compilation Thread - Page 22

wjfox2004 · #1 Posted **Oct 14, 2008, 1:07 PM**

http://www.propertyweek.com/story.as...de=3124924&c=1

The Wolseley owners to open highest restaurant in London

13:54 | 14.10.08
By Deirdre Hipwell

The owners of the celebrity-favoured Wolseley restaurant on Picadilly have agreed to lease the top floors of the proposed The Pinnacle tower scheme in the City of London.

Rex Restaurants Associates, headed by restaurateurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, has agreed to take 13,000 sq ft of space for a restaurant and cocktail bar on levels 58 to 63 of the almost 300m high Pinnacle scheme. It will be open to the general public as well as office tenants and will have 360 degree views of London.

Rex Restaurants owns The Wolseley in Piccadilly and St Alban in Regent Street. Corbin and King were the former proprietors of Le Caprice, The Ivy and J. Sheekey.

Khalid Affara, managing director Arab Investments which will manage the development, said: ‘I am delighted to have reached agreement with Rex Restaurants Associates to provide the sort of high quality restaurant which The Pinnacle and its tenants expect and deserve. We look forward to them creating what will be one of the best restaurants in Europe as part of a truly iconic addition to the London skyline.’

The Pinnacle, designed by the international architect Kohn Pederson Fox Architects, will have 63 floors and around 1m sq ft of office space in the historic Bishopsgate area of London.

Demolition work on the site has been completed and completion is estimated for the first half of 2012.

Savills and David Coffer Lyons advised Arab Investments.

wjfox2004 · #2 Posted **Oct 14, 2008, 1:13 PM**

http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?...de=3124847&c=1

London Monument gets new viewing platform

13 October, 2008

By Sophie Griffiths

Crowds gather to see Julian Harrap's new design winched into place atop 61m column

A new viewing platform has been winched onto the Monument - the 61m-tall stone column near London Bridge that commemorates the 1666 Great Fire of London - as part of a £4.5m project funded by the City of London Corporation.

Streets around the City were blocked off on Saturday for installation of the platform balustrade and cage, designed by Julian Harrap Architects. Made of lightweight cable mesh stretched over stainless steel tubes, it replaces a fifties-built structure of iron bars.

Crowds gathered to watch the delicate operation, which took several hours, as a huge crane winched the new structure into position on the black limestone viewing platform.

The 2mm-thick stainless steel cable mesh will later be stretched over the outside of the cage frame and inside the balustrade, then woven onto 8mm-thick stainless steel rods welded to the structural elements.

Judy Allen, project architect, said the aim was to improve the experience of the visitor. “The previous cage, of iron bars, felt like a zoo enclosure,” she said. “A mesh was finally specified with an aperture of less than the diameter of a drinks can, yet strong enough to resist the pressure of people leaning against, hanging from or cutting through it. The lightweight cable mesh almost disappears when looking through it.”

Those who climb the 311 spiral steps to admire the view will also be able to use state-of-the-art telescopes designed as part of the new balustrade.

The curved stainless steel tubes of the structure contain electrical cabling for the services on the platform, including CCTV cameras and lighting.

wjfox2004 · #3 Posted **Nov 20, 2008, 10:03 AM**

^ No, it's U/C.

Bergenser · #4 Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 3:48 PM**

If London get all of these build, it will be among the world-skyscraper cities.

wjfox2004 · #5 Posted **Dec 16, 2008, 1:32 PM**

http://www.propertyweek.com/story.as...de=3130031&c=1

Qatari Diar to provide finance for London’s Shard development

12:53 | 16.12.08
By Deirdre Hipwell

Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company is to provide the bulk of development finance for the Renzo Piano-designed Shard development at London Bridge.

The sovereign wealth fund said today it had agreed to provide a funding facility to London Bridge Quarter, the Jersey-registered holding company that is developing the Shard and a second adjacent development called London Bridge Place.

The extent of the loan has not been disclosed but it is thought to be significant given that the estimated construction costs could be as high as £1bn. Qatari Diar, headed by John Wallace in the UK, has not taken an equity stake in the development but will take a seat on the board of directors of the company.

London Bridge Quarter is an international joint venture owned equally by Qatar Islamic Bank, Qinvest, Qatar National Bank, Barwa International and Irvine Sellar. Sellar Property Group is also the development manager.

Demolition and site clearance of The Shard site will be completed next month and demolition and site clearance will start on the London Bridge Place site in March 2009.

Construction on both sites is expected to start next year with practical completion in 2012.

A spokesman for Qatari Diar said: ‘This further financial commitment by Qatari Diar to London’s real estate market underscores our conviction that, despite its current challenges, London remains one of the most important real estate markets in the world and it is one in which we have an ongoing interest. We take a long term view of all of our investments here and remain confident of their successful outcome.’

A spokesman for London Bridge Quarter said: ‘Obtaining this new facility, which is a major part of our overall financing requirement, enables the programme for completion of The Shard and its sister building London Bridge Place to remain on programme for completion early in 2012.’

wjfox2004 · #6 Posted **Jan 25, 2009, 9:43 AM**

A rendering of my own:

wjfox2004 · #7 Posted **Dec 16, 2008, 1:33 PM**

Some recent pics, by fitz44 of SSC -

wjfox2004 · #8 Posted **Jan 9, 2009, 11:18 AM**

http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?...de=3130917&c=0

Brookfield to build Pinnacle for £575m in City…

09 January 2009

By David Rogers

Australian contractor Brookfield has signed a deal to build the Pinnacle – the tallest building in the City of London – for about £575m.

The firm, which changed its name from Multiplex last year, agreed a maximum price with developer Arab Investments just before Christmas. The figure is understood to be £75m higher than initially expected.

Brookfield was originally chosen to build the 63-storey scheme in Bishopsgate in summer 2007 and the developer had hoped the job would be completed by 2011. But delays in signing off the deal mean it is now set to finish in early 2013.

Mace has been overseeing the demolition and groundworks, which are being carried out by Keltbray, for more than a year under a construction management deal but will hand over to Brookfield next Thursday.

Ashley Muldoon, the managing director of Brookfield’s construction business in the UK, said: “We’re pleased to have signed the contract with Arab Investments and look forward to supporting them in the development of the tower.”

The firm has let most of the main subcontracts on the 288m-high tower. Dutch contractor Hollandia, which worked with Brookfield on Wembley Stadium, and Belgian firm Victor Buyck will carry out steelwork as a joint venture, having previously worked together on the Gherkin. Permasteelisa subsidiary Gartner will carry out the cladding.

Meanwhile, Mace is expected to sign a deal to build the 310m-high Shard in London Bridge within the next week. According to sources close to the project, the scheme’s funders are close to agreeing a price of about £425m for the tower.

IciLondres · #9 Posted **Jan 9, 2009, 5:52 PM**

Signing the contract and finding the money are two different things. I doubt this one is going ahead, and I hope it doesn't because it isn't a patch on The Shard or Leadenhall.

wjfox2004 · #10 Posted **Jan 20, 2009, 10:53 AM**

After a pause of several weeks - caused by additional basement/ground level works - Heron Tower has started rising again.

Pics by JohnB of SkyscraperCity:

wjfox2004 · #11 Posted **Jan 24, 2009, 1:02 AM**

Here's a video I made recently in the City of London. It's about 7 minutes / 100 megabytes:

http://www.willfox.com/videos/skyscr...rt2jan2009.wmv

If you prefer, you can watch a low-res version on my YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohtR35VSvyg

wjfox2004 · #12 Posted **Jan 25, 2009, 9:44 AM**

Does anyone actually bother reading this thread? I feel like I'm the only one keeping it alive...

Swede · #13 Posted **Jan 25, 2009, 10:49 AM**

I like to read it. Not much to say most of the time tho, but a great thread for all the big projects in London. Now that my brother lives there I care more than I did a year ago - and even then I always checked out the thread whenever I saw there was a new post

NEway - what are the other construction sites we see in that last pic? What tower is that going up in the upper right?

wjfox2004 · #14 Posted **Jan 25, 2009, 3:22 PM**

Well, on the far right we have the Broadgate Tower (165m) which is due for completion anytime now.

To the left of that, you can see the core of 100 Middlesex Street (105m), a block of student accommodation.

Anyway, Heron Tower is the one to watch, and it should be starting to make its mark on the skyline in the next few months.

eduardo88 · #15 Posted **Jan 26, 2009, 3:49 AM**

Quick Question (actually 2)

Does anyone have any info on the Goodman Fields proposal near Aldgate East Station, and does anyone know when Aldgate Tower is supposed to be completed?

wjfox2004 · #16 Posted **Jan 26, 2009, 8:42 PM**

Here's a new rendering of the City in 2012 -

Keith Lynn · #17 Posted **Jan 28, 2009, 9:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by eduardo88

Quick Question (actually 2)

Does anyone have any info on the Goodman Fields proposal near Aldgate East Station, and does anyone know when Aldgate Tower is supposed to be completed?

Hi Mate... Aldgate Tower is an Exemplar development. see link to web site:-

http://www.aldgatetower.co.uk/

Under the current economical downturn I believe it is on hold.

wjfox2004 · #18 Posted **Jan 26, 2009, 8:42 PM**

^ Not sure what you mean by the "Aldgate Tower" - there are several large developments in the area.

There's a thread on SkyscraperCity for the Goodmans Fields tower:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=499272

Seems to be stuck in the planning system at the moment.

Swede · #19 Posted **Jan 27, 2009, 7:44 PM**

So, all those towers are still going ahead? London has been fairly hard hit by the finance crisis, has it not? That got me worried, 'cause all those new towers look great (and are with good transit options too, very important IMO).

wjfox2004 · #20 Posted **Jan 28, 2009, 9:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swede

So, all those towers are still going ahead?

Heron is already U/C.

Leadenhall will be delayed 1-2 years, but will probably be built.

Bishopsgate Tower is 25% let, and funding is nearly secured. Piling is already underway. We don't know for sure if they'll build it - but it's looking very likely. I'd give it an 80% chance of going ahead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swede

London has been fairly hard hit by the finance crisis, has it not? That got me worried, 'cause all those new towers look great (and are with good transit options too, very important IMO).

Yes, massive job losses in the financial services industry. To be honest, I'm amazed even a single skyscraper is going ahead - this recession will be terrible, and the effects will last beyond 2012 (in my opinion).