Walkie-Talkie Tower goes ahead with Canary Wharf jv
Land Securities has formed a partnership with Canary Wharf Group to go ahead with development of the so-called Walkie-Talkie tower at 20 Fenchurch St in the City of London. The Land Securities property, which is currently a cleared site with some ancillary retail neighbouring holdings, has been sold to the new partnership for £90.2m, in line with its March 2010 valuation.
The proposed 37-storey tower is to provide about 690,000 sq ft of office space, in sought-after large floorplate sizes of between 14,000 sq ft and 28,000 sq ft. There will be a “skygarden” on the top three floors. Total development costs are forecast at around £500m.
To enable the building programme to be condensed, work will start immediately on the substructure and the detailed design of the superstructure. Completion to the ground floor level is planned for February 2012. Construction of the superstructure will follow, with completion anticipated in Q2 2014.
Robert Noel, managing director of Land Securities’ London portfolio, said: “Earlier this year we announced our intention to carry out this project in joint venture and we are delighted to have teamed up with Canary Wharf Group to do so.”
