LONDON | Projects & Construction

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

Sometimes the scale and variety of the projects being undertaken in London is just overwhelming. I don't know whether anyone can verify this for me, but I think it would be right to say that London must be the most under-construction city in Europe at the moment?

[Sid Vicious]

Originally Posted by MasterOfHisOwnDomain

Sometimes the scale and variety of the projects being undertaken in London is just overwhelming. I don't know whether anyone can verify this for me, but I think it would be right to say that London must be the most under-construction city in Europe at the moment?

along with Istanbul and Moscow I would say.

[Ecological]

Originally Posted by Sid Vicious

along with Istanbul and Moscow I would say.

London has more money being spent on development than anywhere in Europe. £94 billion in new build housing alone.

[erbse]

^ Any data backing this up, a broad comparison, anything?

Originally Posted by Sid Vicious

along with Istanbul and Moscow I would say.

+ Hamburg.

[PortoNuts]

BIM to aid United House's £58m Islington scheme



Specialist London housing contractor United House has been awarded a £57.6m contract to build a new mixed-use development on Wharf Road in Islington, N1, using building information modelling (BIM).

The A2Dominion Group has appointed United House to deliver the scheme, working alongside architect FraserBrownMacKenna and project designer Stephen Marshall. The BIM concept envisages virtual construction of a building prior to its actual physical construction, to reduce uncertainty, improve safety, work out problems, and simulate and analyse potential impacts.

BIM advocates say that it prevents errors by enabling conflict or 'clash detection'. The computer model visually highlights to the team where parts of the building (e.g. structural frame and building services pipes or ducts) may wrongly intersect. This allows important decisions about the project’s life cycle to be made reliably ahead of time and maximises productivity on site during the build programme, often shortening construction time and decreasing costly deliveries and site waste.

The canal-side development includes 327 new homes (for private sale, shared ownership and social rent) arranged in four blocks ranging from seven to ten storeys, with rooftop play areas and terraces, plus nearly 6,000 sq ft of commercial space.

The double-storey basement that United House will be constructing beneath the scheme is situated between listed buildings within a conservation area. All of the apartments in the scheme are designed to meet Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 and commercial spaces will meet BREEAM Excellent.

United House group chief executive Jeffrey Adams said: “We have an exceptional track record for building high quality product in the London Borough of Hackney – and a reputation for pushing the boundaries when it comes to new construction techniques that will deliver a strong return on investment for our clients. We look forward to bringing this large scale urban project to fruition on behalf of A2Dominion.”

http://www.theconstructionindex.co.u...lington-scheme

[LondonFox]

Originally Posted by erbse

^ Any data backing this up, a broad comparison, anything?

http://www.pie-mag.com/articles/4293...-swfs-e-amp-y/


"So strong is demand that London has brushed off Europe’s economic crisis to become the world’s most coveted property market, cornering £13.2bn of £177bn spent globally this year. The sum is higher than that invested in any European country, according to data from Real Capital Analytics. It is almost as much as the combined £14.7bn spent in its rival cities of New York and Paris."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/28e0c3dc-2...d%2F%2Fproduct

[Ecological]

Originally Posted by erbse

^ Any data backing this up, a broad comparison, anything?



+ Hamburg.

Put it this way. 34,000 homes are needed in London every year for the next decade at least.

This is an article just for the high end spectrum of property. the luxury element. £38 billion is being invested alone in this area which makes up about 10% of the entire housing market in London.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1843bfc0-f...#axzz2Em5zSo00

[italiano_pellicano]

porto your living in London ?

[erbse]

Fox & Eco: Ok, thanks.

Approx. 30'000 or more addtional homes are also needed in Hamburg, Munich and soon even Berlin.

It's just that the German market was rather slow in keeping up. But I prefer slower, sustainable and high quality growth over any rush.

In Hamburg, there are 220 potential buyers/tenants on a single residential unit on average, for instance. I believe the numbers for Munich are even higher. Same for popular "Kieze" (quarters) in Berlin, like Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte or Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain.

[Ecological]

No worries, but I very much doubt 30,000 homes are needed each year in Hamburg though!!

It's something I'll need to look into.

[erbse]

^ This article is mentioning even 50'000 missing residential units in Hamburg in the year 2017, according to the current development and recent studies: http://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/art...wohnungen.html

[LondonFox]

Originally Posted by erbse

Fox & Eco: Ok, thanks.

Approx. 30'000 or more addtional homes are also needed in Hamburg, Munich and soon even Berlin.

It's just that the German market was rather slow in keeping up. But I prefer slower, sustainable and high quality growth over any rush.

The population of the United Kingdom is growing at a fast rate though. Compared to France and Germany whose predicted population growth is set to stall in the future (and in Germany's case - fall), the UK will continue to grow year on year. There is a house shortage at the moment in the UK. One of the reasons that so much affordable housing is being built over the whole country is to try to push house prices right back down again so people can actually buy somewhere to live at a sensible price.

By 2050, the UK is set to have a bigger population than France and have caught up with Germany as Europe's most populous nations.

http://www.os-connect.com/pop/p2n.asp

[Ecological]

Originally Posted by erbse

^ This article is mentioning even 50'000 missing residential units in Hamburg in the year 2017, according to the current development and recent studies: http://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/art...wohnungen.html

Thanks. So Hamburg needs 50,000 new homes by 2017??

Looking at census figures Hamburg's population has grown by just over 130,000 people in 12 years. London by over 350,000. Plus London is already 4 times bigger.

I'm sure there is alot of required work to be done in Hamburg but I don't think it touches cloth against London.

I know my region has over 180,000 people on housing waiting lists.

[potto]

don't forget that house building has been artificially restricted in London for past 30 years for political reasons.

The development boom mentioned above is related solely to prime property for international investment purposes unlike Hamburg Munich and Berlin.

London still has the requirement for a large scale house building programme outside of this market bracket to fulfil a demand that has built up over last few decades. Whether that happens or not is political rather than economic.

[erbse]

^ Absolutely correct. (While there's still a lot of prime props for intern. investments in the big German cities.)


Anyway, we should switch back to London projects.

Since you mentioned governmental house buildings programme, are there any recent examples for such in London?

[PortoNuts]

The Putney Blades



The name of the project, The Putney Blades, may sound so sharp you could cut yourself, but the reality of the design is another curvaceous organic offering from futurist firm, SPAARC Architecture that has been beavering away at the scheme since 2006.

The site is set in Putney, west London, to the immediate south of Jubilee House just a couple of minutes walk from Putney Bridge. The project consists of two buildings, the first is a shorter seven storey building that will front Putney High Street and have a heavy amount of retail space in it, with the second building behind it off Putney Bridge Road that will be a residential tower of 15-storeys that has been reduced in height due to feedback from locals. Separating them will be a new public square.

Although it started off as a student scheme, the project now contains 96 apartments including 19 affordable dwellings on site, 3,528 square metres of retail space, and 389 square metres of office space.

The tower has been conceived to create a sense of vertical rhythm that perhaps makes it look a bit more like a toast rack than blades. This ribbed shape has actually come from the architect having embarked on a study of oar shapes.

Like 20 Fenchurch Street it is more slender at the bottom and then expands as it rises providing the largest floor-plates further up the tower, and conveniently for the developers, a greater amount of lucrative residential space on the upper levels. By stepping down towards Putney High Street this also means that the tower can still present the opportunity for the neighbouring site at 31-43 Putney High Street to be redeveloped with a tall building too.

The project, a joint venture between Princes Securities Ltd and Zurich Assistance Ltd is currently winging its way through the planning system.

http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php?ref=3214

[PortoNuts]

Great Eastern Quays

Great Eastern Quays is a mixed-use masterplan for a 6.2ha site and forms part of the Albert Basin area at the eastern end of the Royal Docks complex.

The scheme seeks to enhance the East Beckton community by delivering an integrated, high quality and sustainable residential led, mixed use development that takes advantage of the remarkable river and dockside setting.

The masterplan has been designed around three distinct character areas; the Dockside, the Riverfront and the residential heart. The proposal knits into the grain of the existing adjacent community, extending the active dockside, and seeks to create a vibrant commercial core, providing the seed of a sustainable development that can foster a sense of community. The Riverfront has been designed as a semi-wild landscape, extending the Capital ring and will afford access to the spectacular, expansive views along the river towards the Thames estuary. Residential squares are domestic in character and provide an intimate counterpoint to the exposed Dock and Riverfront. The proposal utilises innovative duplex typologies to create affordable family homes with front doors on to the street.

http://www.greateasternquays.org.uk/home/
http://www.maccreanorlavington.com/w...ect_2471.html#

Current Site:



Proposals:

[TedStriker]

Who'd want to live there?

[PortoNuts]

Originally Posted by TedStriker

Who'd want to live there?

Where?

[metroranger]

Right under the flightpath of City airport.