July 2009 Archives

A time capsule will today be lowered into the foundations of this development to mark the bottoming out of the skyscraper. The capsule contains a tortoise shell which is hoped, as being art of feng shui traditions, will bring luck to the occupants of the building. Newspaper articles charting the progress of the tower have also been placed inside, along with information about the developer Heron International.

On 2 July the building reached the halfway point in terms of height, with the steel skeleton reaching level 24 and now standing 100 metres tall. Office outfit is in progress on levels two to 12 and is nearly complete on levels two to four.

The property is still fully available with no space under offer so let's hope the tortoise shell gives the developer some luck in finding some tenants.

It could have been in one of their movies but at around 2pm last Friday afternoon Future Films' offices at 76 Dean Street caught alight, causing chaos in the West End. More than 60 firefighters and 12 fire engines battled the blaze and hundreds of people were evacuated from buildings around the fire. There were no reports of any casualties.

A pall of smoke was visible from as far away as Canary Wharf and the Oxo Tower. There was traffic chaos as police sealed off roads and nearby office workers poured into the street.

The fire is believed to have started in the basement at 76 Dean Street. Other reports said an air conditioning unit may have exploded. The house, which dates from the early 1730s, has been described as one the best-preserved 18th-century homes in London with historically important murals and staircases.

Future Films who owns the grade II listed building had no plans to move from the property but it may now not have much choice in the matter.

An interesting article in City Am's "The Capitalist" has suggested that things may not be as bad as they seem down in Canary Wharf.

Yes the dynamics of occupier demand are changing, and yes its looks certain that Nomura are going to be the latest to vacate the Wharf for the City, but maybe we need to look a bit deeper in to the goings on down in Docklands.

One unusual theory uses "Jubilee Place underground index" as a barometer, namely, the number of parking spaces available each day at the car park in Canary Wharf's shopping centre.

Last year, after Lehman went bust, the digital display used to show at least 350-400 spaces were free every day, out of the 550 altogether. These days it has edged down to 200-250 and since it is generally the more important people which drive to work instead of cramming on the Tube, surely that shows things are looking up.

Either that or too many chief executives have too much time to spend shopping.