And Baby makes three: Shard to get another building buddy to become “trilogy” by 2018
All the best things come in threes and skyscrapers are no different.
A third building is being planned to join the Shard and Baby Shard to create a “trilogy” of towers designed by award-winning architect Renzo Piano.
Sellar Property Group, which is responsible for the two existing buildilngs, is in talks with contractors over the new project, which is expected to result in another addition to our skyline by 2018.
According to trade journal Construction News, the new building will be a 180,000 sq ft residential tower. It will replace the 1950s office building Fielden House and contain 148 luxury apartments.
Planning permission was granted just before Christmas.
The man behind the project, Irvine Sellar, told the publication he wants to create a new district called the London Bridge Quarter, to rival Chelsea and Covent Garden.
“The expansion of London Bridge Quarter will continue to grow and it won’t be just with properties we own but it’ll be our neighbours and other developers who will make the district as well.”
In a longer interview with the magazine Sellar also revealed just how challenging it was to get the Shard – the tallest building in Western Europe – off the ground.
“The world was against us,” he said. The 9/11 attacks were fresh in people's minds, making Southwark Council planners, among others, concerned.
“[They wanted to know] how aircraft proof this tower would be against aircraft smashing into it,” he said.
Planning permission was granted in 2002, but a public enquiry was launched by the former deputy prime minister John Prescott four months later.
It also ran into obstacles with funding when, in 2007, Credit Suisse pulled out of the £1.4bn facility that Sellar had negotiated. A consortium of Qatari partners then backed it but shortly after the financial crisis started.
The State of Qatar eventually got involved and now owns 95 per cent of the skyscraper.