LandSec press ahead with ‘Walkie Talkie’ office tower

Rafael Viñoly designed tower will deliver 690,000 sq ft of world class office space despite lack of pre-let

Article posted: 11 Nov 2011

Land Securities has announced that it is pressing ahead with the construction of the much talked about ‘Walkie Talkie’ building at 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3, despite the fact that it has not yet secured a pre-let.

Work began in January on the Rafael Viñoly designed building which when complete will deliver a 37 storey building providing 690,000 sq ft world class office space in the City of London, with each floor offering 360° of unrivalled views, topped by a public sky garden.

20 Fenchurch Street will bring Grade A office space to a supply constrained central London market of 2014 as more than 3m sq ft of leases are expected to expire or see breaks potentially exercised per annum during the next four years. The work to deliver the scheme is expected to support approximately 3,000 jobs throughout the construction process.

Commenting in Land Securities half year report released yesterday, Chief Executive Francis Salway said: “Work on site at this joint venture project with Canary Wharf Group continues, with a commitment to deliver the scheme in spring 2014. Of the new office towers planned for the City, we expect our building to be the first to complete and that the supply of office space around this time will not be as great as some forecasts predict.”

Just last week Land Securities announced that Westminster City Council has resolved to grant planning consent’ for the development of 203,000 sq ft of new office space in Victoria, SW1, at Kingsgate House, 66-74 Victoria Street.

In addition, last month Land Securities secured resolution to grant planning consent for the development of new office space in the Square Mile, EC4, at 1 New Street Square. The scheme will deliver around 250,000 sq ft of office and retail accommodation, replacing three existing buildings on the corner of Shoe Lane and Little New Street.

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Posted by Sara