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London Reaches for the Sky

date added: 31.01.2012

Three new skyscraper developments, The Heron Tower, The Shard and The Pinnacle are spearheading London's high-rise ambitions.

In the midst of a global economic downturn seems like an unusual time for ambitious building projects but London is pressing on with a number of high-rise projects that may see the city become the pre-eminent centre for skyscrapers in Europe.

London Reaches for the Sky

In this continent no city has yet got close to places like Hong Kong, New York, Shanghai and Dubai in the skyscraper stakes but with at least three recent and imminent projects approaching or exceeding the iconic 1000ft mark, London is beginning to rival cities such as Moscow, Madrid, Istanbul and Frankfurt for the title of the European Manhattan.

Heron Tower

Heron Tower on Bishopsgate, in The City, is the first building outside the Docklands area to top the 750 feet barrier and the first significantly tall project in the main business district since the Natwest Tower thirty years ago.

The Heron markets itself for potential occupiers as the very best office environment that corporate money can buy, or in the jargon: an “advanced business life environment”. This means they are touting for blue-chip tenants, the kind who see it as a mark of prestige to be ensconced in the very latest thing in corporate-office-world.

And the attraction is that it’s the newest and the tallest address all in one. And the address is a draw in itself, close to Liverpool Street Station and thus placed ideally between a main transport hub and the very centre of The City.

The Heron does exhibit a genuinely innovative feature they call the Village. Self-contained, independent units of three or even six floors each internally connected by an atrium. If this feature is unique, the tower shares with other similar buildings a spectacular hospitality feature. In The Heron it is The Skybar and Restaurant, a dizzying vantage point at 175m, complete with floor to ceiling windows. Happily it is open to the public, as well as the corporate residents.

The Shard

Architecturally The Heron is commonplace, prosaic even, with all due respect to architect Lee Polisano. A rival development across the river at London Bridge is anything but ordinary. Shaped like splintered glass, a dramatic filament, Shard London Bridge has captured Londoners’ imaginations just as surely as its appearance dominates the horizon even before its construction is complete.

Seventy-two floors are proposed, scaling 1016 feet. Western Europe’s highest man-made pinnacle. A prestigious height, and it is hoped, a prestigious address. Its owners have already made a start by securing the tenancy of The Shangri La Hotel on floors 34 to 52, the first appearance of this Far Eastern hotel, renowned for its level of service, on these shores.

The Shard is a mixed-use building of offices, restaurants, hotel and residences, with observation decks topping the layers. Developer Irvine Sellar and associates see it as a “vertical city” that will be at the forefront of the re-emergence of the “London Bridge Quarter.”

These business issues are of less interest to the mere mortals who view The Shard from the pavements of the Capital. They are more interested in its unique shape and in the mind-boggling statistics accompanying its construction. Appropriately enough, considering its name, glass and its use in the structure is what grabs the imagination as well as the eye. 11,200 panes of the stuff are to be used, supposedly eight football pitches worth of area.

The Pinnacle

Back over the river into more traditional areas for high-rise development, as a matter of fact on a site just down the road from the Heron Tower, The Pinnacle, nicknamed Helter Skelter is under construction.

In 2007, Arab Investments, led by the colourful Khalid Affara, bought the project and changed the name from the rather dull Bishopsgate Tower. The nickname comes from the top half of the tower, which is shaped like the fairground attraction. Also of note is its zoomorphic style, meaning its curling patterned façade has been inspired by natural forms such as seashells and armadillos.

Architectural students are also interested by The Pinnacle’s entirely functional horizontal crossbracing and the extensive use of solar panelling. 2000 square metres of photovoltic cells will make this the largest amount of solar energy yet harnessed in a British building.

Arab Investments aim to have the 288m (945 ft) building complete by 2015 but there are rumours of major funding problems. The developers are optimistic though, partly due to a projected lack of London office space that this tower holding over 8000 workers will help to meet.

Futurists and enthusiasts for bristling city skylines hope that Affara beats the odds and the current economic climate, and finishes the project successfully, just as they hope London in general continues to thrust itself confidently into the sky.

Source: http://scott-graham.suite101.com/london-reaches-for-the-sky

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