The Shard may soon be the tallest building in Western Europe, but at least it won’t be the loneliest.
Sellar Property Group has unveiled plans for a 17-storey commercial property to keep the 310m tower company, as part of the newly developed London Quarter, in London Bridge.
Nicknamed The Place, the development offers 428,000 square feet of office space, with offices up to 31,000 square feet in size, and a landscaped roof terrace. Estimated construction costs are a reported £137 million and the completed development value is anticipated to nudge £500 million.
Like the Shard, The Place is designed by Renzo Piano, the Italian architect jointly responsible for the 1977 Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. As with all of London’s new commercial property arrivals, sustainability has been integrated into the design. A photovoltaic array is mounted on the roof, carbon emissions are minimised, and power plants will provide additional heating.
Companies in the banking, media and professional sectors are believed to be the target market for this commercial property, due to be completed in the latter part of 2013. Sellar’s agents are Colliers International and CB Richard Ellis. The global real estate companies are rumoured to be in discussion with prospective tenants, who will pay an average of £55 per square feet, a figure said to be in line with current market rates, something we would agree with based on research carried out for numerous previous articles.
Sellar foresee the London Quarter becoming ‘a small town around one of London’s biggest transport hubs and a beacon of regeneration’. There will be a piazza, an underground retail mall and direct access to London Bridge tube station; an estimated 350,000 people are expected to use the hub each day.
With reports positioning The Place as the only commercial property on such a scale due for completion during 2013, the beacon appears set to shine brightly on the London Bridge area.
