Spire London | West India Dock | 235m | 67 fl | On Hold

[Peyre]

Originally Posted by SuomiPoika

"Why is everything you post so stupid?"

What´s you ******* problem, i was just beeing curious!

yes it was a little harsh, he's showing a geniune intrest in the scrapers of the Uk and gets a load of crap thrown at him. He's hardly a troll.

[Zim Flyer]

Originally Posted by eXSBass

Think what you want of this thread and my post. But I popped into CW today, specifically at Heartsmere house today to have a little peak and to talk to a few people. It seems, Columbus tower, the Phantom Project, I should say will not be going ahead at all what so ever. I swear, I really do hope someone proves me wrong, but its the truth . I sopke to a gentleman at the desk today. Don't know if you know him, but he's been working there for years now. Big bloke, bald, has a tan. Well, I approached him:

Him: "Hello there, I can I help you?"

Me: "Hi, I was just wondering was it Barclays that were in this building?" (just to get the ball rolling. I already knew that)

Him: "Yeh. They moved out into thier new tower accross the Wharf. About half a year, a year-ish."

Me: "In that case wasn't this building meant to be demolished to make way for a new tower? Columbus Tower?"

Him: "Ah, yes. The 50-odd storey tower. Well, this building isn't going to be demolished to make way for that! You see what it was the previous owners applied for planning permission of the tower. The price of the building then rose dramtically due to the planning permission. They then sold it at a sky high price. The new owners, now have control, and are currently refurishing the building with new air con and facilities and all the rest. They don't plan on moving out or building high any time soon. It'll be doubtful that this'll get demolished. You'na what i'm saying?"

Me: "Yeh. Cheers mate."


There you have it Don't believe me, ask the man yourself. Shame really, would've been the tallest until LBT or DIFA, and better yet. The design was really good, very different to the rest of the CW towers.

One of the goldern rules of selling is never to accept an answer from a gate keeper (receptionist), they are that a receptionist, for all business decisions speak to a Manager or Director.

[Bob]

I've given up on Columbus and I see myself as an optimist.

If it has been sold on it has almost certainly been bought by CW or what are they now.. Songbird?.. to secure total control over development in the area. They have plenty of development lined up so no need to even draw up a plan for this site yet.

[jef]

I have also given up on Minerva Tower. It was deemed to be 'unprudent to pursue' as such and is now claimed to be "under re-design". Meanwhile Minerva Plc is committed to develop the Wallbrook scheme, a retail park, and now a cinema (Odeon) they bought in Kensington for £24m. Another highrise for which the probability is high that it will never be developed.

[DarJoLe]

It's only the first of many I'm afraid.

[larven]

I don't understand how a tower of this prestige offering the highest apartments in London and with the spectacular views it would have provided could fail to be profitable. Its happening in other cities over the UK so why not here?

This building has been dying a slow death for literally years now...yet more pie in the sky for London.

[Fragmentor]

ah well, I think it was on the cards for sometime now, cheers eXSBass for clearing that one up though

[gothicform]

cant agree more with larven. these buildings are profitable everywhere else so why not in london?

[chest]

...and hadn't they paid millions for local gain - the final thing you do before construction, its all very odd - to think there is planning permission in one of the most prime spots in London for tall buildings and instead a miserable 3 floor 80's pile of nonesense is given a minor refurbishment, it dosnt make sense.

[jef]

The developer never said it was not going ahead because of profitability issue. afaik the tower was even not marketed. I know that some of the guys who obtained pp on behalve of SKMC have now created their own real estate - and in this context they are benefiting from the credibility of having obtained pp for such a large-scale scheme. In other words, I suspect there was at least partly a hidden agenda behind this project.

I reckon there will eventually be a tower on the site of Hertsmere House. But I do not believe it will happen any time soon, not least because of the numerous difficulties associated with the construction of CrossRail beneath the Columbus Tower. Any sensible developer will first wait for this CrossRail issue to be sorted out before starting a new project on this site. Meanwhile Songbird has pp for approximately 6 million sq ft of development space for its subsidiary Canary Wharf Group.

[DarJoLe]

I doubt anyone cares about how much money they might have loss, this Arab guy who was behind the tower had the cash to buy the airport, I doubt his family care they've lost a few millions by not building the tower.

All seemed very shadey the whole project anyway.

Right, so that's Columbus off. Minerva looking dodgy, I'd place bets on Vauxhall Tower being the new phantom project. I used to be so enthusiastic about London's projects, but I agree with most people now on the world forums - London, all talk, no action.

[Jonny 5]

Riverside South looks like it'll be the next to go down the redesign for multi tenants route.

[Bob]

I think Columbus was not typical of projects in London. Do we know who bought the site? I bet it was songbird. Do not underestimate the influence of this group. They want full control of the estate and some young upstart coming along and proposing to build taller than them was too much. It got in the way of their long term plans. They control all office accomodation. Someone else stepping in would mess up their future profit projections. Just look at the other competition that has got nowhere South of the estate. And don't forget the childish way they built, in effect, a giant wall of steel and glass to block off everything to the South.

And generally I'm still an optimist. I've watched London construction for many years now and we are currently experiencing a steady upswing that has been gathering momentum for about a year after a couple of years of very liittle new start.

Broadgate will start very shortly and perhaps that will give some creditability back. It certainly should do

[potto]

thats why I always had a nagging doubt about the level of control that was given to the private sector over the land at Canary Wharf... ok it has rejuvinated the area in a relatively short period of time but its long term consequences are unknown and from the points above it seems that urban coherence and also competition is already suffering.

I wonder if they even assasinated the arab fellow?

[london lad]

If Songbird/CW bought it we would know as they would've had to have declared it with a statement via the stock exchange. This has always been the weird London one as the background & developers have been rather shady. Still it does mean in the long run a tower will probably get built here-But who knows when.

I doubt very much Vauxhall tower will be cancelled, St George wouldnn't have gone thourhg a PI not to build it& they wont build it if they haven't finished the rest of the development there, which is fairly logical. They are on the last stage of the original scheme so this one will be next.We will probably see activity on it around next summer.

[jef]

Songbird/CWG have not bought that site. They have pp for further 6 million sq ft !

[Labotomy]

So lets get this straight, you met a man who was working in the lobby of the
future Columbus Towers Site who upon your questioning said Columbus Tower wasn't going ahead



He didn't look like any of these by any chance

























I don't mean to piss on your parade or any thing but I wouldn't believe every thing people working on buildings or in lobbys say, the real decisions are taken in boardrooms and these individuals are very rarely privy to them.

Nobody knows exactly what is occurring apart from Senior Management and there not going to tell any one.

The bloke at the door does not know the long term plans for the site or future decisions regarding the site, in fact you may as well go down the local Mental Hospital and ask the patients views on the proposed tower

[Peyre]

Originally Posted by potto

thats why I always had a nagging doubt about the level of control that was given to the private sector over the land at Canary Wharf... ok it has rejuvinated the area in a relatively short period of time but its long term consequences are unknown and from the points above it seems that urban coherence and also competition is already suffering.

I wonder if they even assasinated the arab fellow?

oooh corporate conspiricies, you gotta love em.

[gothicform]

with st georges wharf, talk to someone attached on the project and youll find they are planning the marketing of the tower now. its the final phase of the scheme. AFAIK, the columbus site has NOT been sold, whoever says it has i think is wrong. it hasnt been reported anywhere and a check with the land registery shows that it has not changed hands in ownership. it is quite possible the receptionist is confusing a tenancy with a buy out clause that hertsemere house has (i found out this by phoning the estate agent and expressing interest in the site) with it actually having been sold. change of management in the holding company of the developer is the likely cause for the delay combined with increased construction costs. whereas the previous management was committed to building, and i speak from experience in how middle eastern developers work here, a change in the family can change everything as the new head male often has very different ideas to the previous one. there are often power struggles and the whole thing ends up in court.
the developer did sign an s106 if my memory serves me correct, and i know they have awarded pre construction contracts. the question is whether they choose to procede now or put the site on hold for a number of years until prices fall. people should remember oil prices have jumped this year (well done blair for invading iraq and forcing down production and increasing risk) which has increased massively steel costs.

[Labotomy]

The Chinese buying all the world steel hasn't helped either