Recently in Development Category

Canary Wharf Group will be celebrating this week, as the saga of its Heron Quays West development finally draws to a close. The developer has been working on this scheme since 2001 to build three more office towers in Docklands.

Michael Hunt and Michael Gross, owners of two buildings located on the site, turned down offers of £5m each for their land and raised their objections when Tower Hamlets ordered them to proceed with the sales. Now, after taking the council to a public inquiry in 2009, they have finally dropped their opposition.  

It is not yet known when building works will commence but The Docklands newspaper reports that Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and UBS have been mentioned as prospective occupiers.

A report produced by Savills explained that June saw the lowest level of UK commercial development in nearly a year. With continuing fears of a double-dip recession and large cuts in public sector spending, it is likely that the development sector will remain subdued for some time to come.

In terms of central London commercial property, we are experiencing some activity and developer's confidence seems to be growing. With reports that the Heron Tower is close to securing its first pre-let to law firm McDermott Will & Emery and the London Bridge Quarter consortium's deal with TfL to push for a higher rent, it looks like the situation in London isn't so bad.

But can this continue?

As schemes such as Central St Giles face completion without any tenants, occupiers are going to have much more choice. The possibility of the development pipeline drying up seems ever more real, which will mean severe stock shortage in the years to come.

For more on Savills report, see here. 

For more information on the planning application, see Tower Hamlets's online planning register or here for the Design & Access statement. 

During the course of last weekend's heatwave I visited Primrose Hill, along with half of London, to check out the fabulous City views. However, I was sorely disappointed when half the view of the City was missing due to three monstrous buildings with red, yellow and blue tops.. classy. I assume these buildings are residential but how they got past planning I don't know, anyone know what they are.....

On a positive note, there were plenty of cranes up in the skies, signalling the race back to the construction site as demand returns.

The time has come for passengers to test out the long-awaited East London line. Although a full service will not run until 23rd May, some trains will run between New Cross Gate and Dalston Junction. With planned extensions of the line to Highbury and Islington and eventually Clapham Junction, could the line mean a rise in activity in the area?

Boris certainly thinks so and told the BBC, "This new railway will bring jobs and opportunities to communities up and down the line, massively improving access for hundreds of thousands of people." Serviced office providers have also been rather hopeful of a surge in interest, as a move away from the City could give tenants the chance to cut costs.

The Crossrail project (above), which will stop at both Liverpool Street and Whitechapel, could also contribute towards an easterly expansion. However, we will need to see a rise in the amount of available good quality stock if tenants are to be tempted away from the City. The crumbly buildings that currently occupy much of east London will do little to turn the heads of prospective tenants.

It's all change again at 25 Churchill Place with another planning application being submitted by the Canary Wharf Group. Due to News International deciding to stay put in Wapping, Canary Wharf have again worked up a new design for this site with KPF.

The scheme features a 108 metre tall mid-rise tower, a reduction of 22 metres from the previous plans with the number of floors above ground level dropping from 24 to 19. It will contain 71,169 square metres of office space, a drop of almost 9,000 square metres.

Let's hope this compact glass-clad development will appeal to a potential occupier somewhere.

The UK has just exited a deep recession with a 0.1% growth in the economy in the last three months of 2009. Although growth is slight it could give the construction industry the push they need to begin developing the many stalled site across London. With a shortage of new grade A office stock due in 2011/12 perhaps developers should take the risk and start picking up tools again in 2010.