Europe’s tallest skyscraper the Shard opens in London with 26 floors of vacant office space
Europe's tallest skyscraper the Shard was inaugurated in London in a dazzling sound and light show befitting its status as the capital's brashest and most controversial building.
The Shard's inauguration marks the completion of the exterior of the building, located on the south bank of the River Thames at London Bridge, while work on the inside is expected to continue into 2013.
Superstar architect Renzo Piano calls the European Union's new tallest building a “vertical city”.
The elongated glass pyramid, built atop a train station in a scruffy neighbourhood near the Thames, will open with 26 floors of vacant office space, and developers have to fill it at a time when rents are at the flattest in at least 50 years.
The Shard's developers are spared from market wrath solely because the building was built with funding by the deep-pocketed royal family of Qatar, rather than a publicly listed firm, said John Cahill, a property analyst at Investec.
”With the Shard's office floors still empty, it would be panic stations if it was a listed developer behind it,“ he said.
Long gone are the days in London's commercial real estate market when the Foster + Partners-designed 30 St Mary Axe, known as ”the Gherkin“ because of its oblong shape, opened in the financial district in April 2004 with all floors already rented.
The Shard is just one of several skyscrapers now sprouting across London with nicknames that reflect the silhouettes they cast on the skyline. But with a financial crisis having blown in since architects first came up with designs for the ”Walkie Talkie“ and the ”Cheese Grater“, lettings have been muted.
Rents for the best offices in London's financial district - the yardstick used by Shard developer Irvine Sellar for the offices at the bottom of the tower - have been 55 pounds per square foot since September 2010, property consultant CBRE said. That is the longest period of flat rents since its records began in 1960.
The Walkie-Talkie, also known as 20 Fenchurch Street, is being developed by Land Securities and Canary Wharf Group. The Leadenhall tower - the official name of the Cheese Grater - is being funded by British Land and the property arm the Ontario, Canada city workers' retirement fund.
Developers say a wave of lease breaks and expiries over the next several years will prompt tenants to move into well-appointed new offices.
If the climate is bothering the Qatari funders of the Shard, they did not say so at an opening event this week.
”Recovering our investment is a minor thing at the moment,“ said Sheikh Abdullah Bin Saoud Al Thani, governor of Qatar Central Bank.
The development cost of the Shard, a neighbouring office building called The Place and communal areas around London Bridge train station is about 1.5 billion pounds.
”We have confidence in the London market and a long relationship with London,” he said, emphasising that a slowdown was part of a normal economic cycle.
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Oh dear.
Pretty soon framed pictures of Cameron by Hyde Park.
We don't care about skyscrapers. Unlike the rest of the countries of the world, we don't want to become an arquitectural copy of the USA.
Most of our cities have banned such glass skyscrapers AT CITIZENS REQUESTS. They are nice, but they are not part of our culture and don't belong here. Only in Buenos Aires are they allowed and only in the specific zoning area.
Your first post though was a truly pathetic attempt at trolling.
Why? Same style building and your currency, now that I think of it, all has the same mug. Rather North Koreanish...
How's the tennis match going btw? Scotland remeeded England's place in world sp0rt already?
I have to disagree with you, the North Korean tower is nicer.
“Pretty soon framed pictures of Cameron by Hyde Park”
Riding Raisa the police horse maybe?
So do all Brits have an inferiority complex on Argentina then? On every article in the said section, you all begin ranting about us. :)
I only respect people who remain humble even if they (correctly or incorrectly), believe to be “better” than other human beings.
Since I for not a second believe that you are superior to me, I simply laugh at your gasconading and counter with solid points to prove why you are not all that after all. :)
Don't try and spin , although that is your job as a troll , no race of people is superior to another. The fact that rgs are trying to claim land that never belonged to me makes me cross, they lie and post false history to try to add merit to a spurious claim. This is all a smoke screen for your failed economy , low world standing, and humiliation at loosing a war. Get over it and focus on making your country a great nation, it can happen.
Hypocritical much?
OF which you have all done a miserable job lads :)
The article was about a skyscraper my initial comment was praising the development. Then troll comments followed about north Korea and propaganda pictures of Cameron being installed in London I assume trying to draw a parallel with the uk and Korea. Comments then followed about tennis , so I fail
To see how one uk poster..me, has overwelmed the poor troll minority. as per usual you change the subject deflect and lie. many uk media sites on Falklands topics get raided by paid trolls in a desperate effort by argentina to try to influence media. It fails miserably because the trolls are usually fed the information to post, most of it is inaccurate or wrong. And most trolls seem to display limited intelligence, but suppose if your living in a one bed slum dependant on food parcels you don't have much chance in life. Brrrr it's a bit cold, think I will turn my gas central heating up ...sorry girls cheap shot.
(i.e. the suggestion being Argentina is a country where home heating does not exist).
You have to admire the tenacity to keep their head in the sands.
You talk about respect and you show exactly zero yourself, it is Argentina that is causing all of these issues with its behavior that is backed by equally vitriolic posters like in this case, yourself.
If you want change, vote a different government that is going to act in a adult and respectable way and follow that by doing the same on these forums.
23- Not inaccurate posts my troll friend as your information is wrong. David Cameron is not a north korean dictator.
And jet fuel retardant comment!!!! is a disgusting comment you see that you are just posting bile.
Why don't you both get your heads out of your own bidet-less quarters and admit my point is legitimate.
Won't be long before its full.
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