Does the Walkie Talkie have a wind problem?
We all know about the Walkie Talkie’s sunshine problem, when beams from the skyscraper were reflecting on to the streets below and melting cars (sort of).
Well, now it seems the building has a wind problem.
It’s been windy over the last few days but the gusts have been noticeably worse around the base of 20 Fenchurch Street. Are the building’s famous curves heightening gusts of wind on the streets below? We thought we’d ask about to see how the locals felt.
“I almost got blown over the other day walking up past the building, when I got around the corner it was fine. I was scared to go back!” Amira, a sales assistant in Molton Brown told The Capitalist.
Molton Brown is on the Walkie Talkie’s right hand side. Next we crossed the road to shirt maker TM Lewin, located opposite the skyscraper.
“The wind is so strong on this side of the street we usually have to keep the doors closed so stop the clothes getting blown about,” sales assistant Nicky told us. “It’s definitely worse because of the Walkie Talkie, I remember before it was built the wind was fine.”
We asked Land Securities if it’d noticed anything particularly gusty about its building but a spokesperson said it wasn’t something it was worried about. Hoping it’ll all blow over?