After the development of the Gherkin, the Shard and the Cheesegrater, the Walkie Talkie is the latest oddly named building to add to London’s changing skyline. More formally referred to as 20 Fenchurch Street, the building gained its popular Walkie Talkie name due to its top-heavy appearance. This feature is as a result of the building having bigger top floors, which should command higher rents and so make the project more profitable.
The building is designed by Uruguayan-born architect Rafael Vinoly and was originally conceived in 2006 as a 565 foot (200 meters) tall tower with 45 floors. After concerns were expressed about the height of the tower and its impact on views and other buildings in the City, particularly St. Paul’s Cathedral, it was reduced by nine floors to a height of 525 feet (160 metres).
Planning permission was granted in November 2006 but criticism from the public and heritage groups resulted in the project being called in by the government and a public enquiry being held. Full planning permission was finally granted in July 2007 and the existing building on the site, which was built in 1968 and was one of the first tall buildings in the City of London, was demolished in 2008. This coincided with the onset of the financial crisis and caused delays due to doubts over the likely level of demand for office space in the City of London.
Piling work started in January 2009 and groundworks were completed by June that year. Work was well underway at basement level in January 2010 and the building, having originally been planned for completion in 2011, should now be ready by the second quarter of 2014.
The tower will have double and triple glazed panellised aluminium cladding. The south façade is to be ventilated to improve the building’s efficiency and reduce solar gain while the east and west sides incorporate extensive solar shading. As a result, the building design has been awarded a Very Good BREEAM rating. Its structural shape and the stresses placed on the south side mean the building should stay rigid within 60 millimetres.
The Walkie Talkie will provide 83,450 square metres of floor space and will have what is claimed to be the highest public park in London. The roof garden is to be stepped over a number of levels that house the plant machinery and will feature four zones that have plants from Africa, Australasia, Europe and the Americas. The area will also feature a restaurant, roof terrace and spectacular views.
The estimated £500 million cost of the development is being funded by a 50:50 joint venture between Land Securities, the owner of the original building on the site, and the Canary Wharf Group, with financing being partly provided by the China Investment Corporation and Qatar Holdings. Despite the delays due to doubts over the economic viability of the project, the expected 2014 completion date is now seen as good timing.
Available office space in London has halved from 560,000 square metres to 280,000 square metres in little over a year. With many leases due to expire from 2012 onwards, there is a view that many companies will be on the lookout for high specification offices at the time the Walkie Talkie comes on the market. Coupled with a likely shortage of available supply, this may well push up rental rates.
Image by .Martin
Video by darjole
