London Projects

[ablarc]

^ Piranesi.

[nick-taylor]

The actual terminus for passengers was above ground (unfortunately that burnt down and had been disused due to the opening of Liverpool Street), while below ground was where the goods yards were located. Once those fell out of favour they've been derelict since.

The original 1840 Bishopsgate Terminus



A major thing in London (and the rest of the UK) is the re-usage of old railway viaducts and the old vaults that lie beneath stations (which would store foods and produce in the old days) which unlike other cities were built all by hand and using bricks. With a good clean, level floors and light filtering through these areas will not only gorgeous, but warm, atmospheric and far better than wasting above ground space which could be entirely formed of lobbey areas.


This pic is one I took (forgive the 'shaky' effect). Its at London Bridge - the worlds' oldest train terminus and the oldest elevated station in the world. When the Jubilee Line was extended, a new station was built here to create an interchange with mainline and London Underground platforms. One requirement was direct access to platforms from almost every conceivable direction. The result was that previously disused beer vaults (used to store beer before it was loaded onto trains to be distributed around the country) are now part of a walk-through connection between National Rail platforms and the Jubilee Line platforms. The extra space is also devoted to stalls and unique shops that create an underground market complex.







This sort of work is very attractive to the general public who like the convergence of new and old, the same is being done with the East London Line Extension where a very old but disused elevated brick viaduct line is being modernised and re-opened, while a few other stations around London are actually being built into the brick viaducts.

The most impressive reconstruction project is that at St Pancras, where the wine vaults are being converted into part of the concourse for the new Eurostar platforms

[nick-taylor]

I talked about some towers for Nine Elms inbetween Clapham Junction and Vauxhall. It looks pretty large:








Pictures of Old Street tower which from one angle looks like Flatiron. This area is dated and this will give it a kick up the arse to change.

[nick-taylor]

New Bishopsgate Tower render







Update on the Bishopsgate Tower:










Update on 51 Lime Street (credit: the Snowman and Ntn_Rawlings):

[newcastle kid]

It is pretty much confirmed now that the Riverside South twin tower development (214m, 189m) will be starting early next year. Ironicaly, the residents near by were recently complaining that a maquis that will be put on site over christmas to host corerate events will cause hugedisruption. I wonder what they think about this huge skyscraper development?









That means all these towers should be U/C next year in the CW area:

Riverside South T1 214m
Riverside South T2 189m
Pan Peninsula T1 147m
Marsh Wall T1 137m
Pan Peninsula T2 122m

Plus, Leadenhall (225m) Should start about the same time, it will be the tallest tower in the city until either Heron or Bishopsgate starts.

[Toilet Duck]

I live just outside of London and wish I could afford to move into Central somewhere. I spend so much of my time clubbing there. No matter where I've travelled, if I could spend ten years of my life anywhere, it'd be London. I've made many friends - the nightlife, especially the clubs, are probably the best in the world and only India has better indian food !!

Just wish we could buy in some more sunshine !!??

Great pics and information on here. Keep up the good work.

[lofter1]

It seems the question now is whether the Olympics will be good for London ...

nick-taylor: I just visited your posts here (more MelDome pics): http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...9&postcount=31 ...

London is going to be incredible for the Olympics.

London Olympics will cost £15bn
says Montreal Olympics guru


Soaring cost: The bill for the Olympics
has already risen by nearly a billion

mailonsunday.co.uk
22nd November 2006

The architect behind the most financially disastrous Olympics in modern history predicts the London 2012 games will cost £15 billion.

The dire warning, issued by the eminent French architect Roger Tallibert, will fuel growing concern over the eventual cost of the London games.

The bill rose from an initial estimate of £2.4 billion to more than £3.3 billion this week - with the final cost now expected to top £6 billion.

But Mr Tallibert, who designed the Montreal Olympic park for the 1976 Games, says he expects the bill to rise a lot further yet.

"I think London will have the same problems as Montreal," said Mr Tallibert.
"For London the cost will be $30 billion [£15 billion] minimum. The maintenance will be huge."

Montreal is widely considered to have been the most expensive games ever staged.

The estimated $2.5 billion debt is expected to be finally paid off this month - more than 30 years on.

Mr Tallibert believes Montreal's true debt was closer to $6 billion.

Montreal city hall admitted this week the Stade Olympique had become a white elephant, with almost no sport taking place there.

There is now a battle between the Quebec regional government and the city over who should own the stadium, which costs around $20 million a year to maintain.

This week a London MP feared the 2012 Games would suffer the same fate.

Mark Field, Tory MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, said: "I fear that financially the London Olympics will prove to be every bit as much a disaster as the Montreal Olympics were exactly 30 years ago which are still being paid for by council taxpayers in that Canadian city."

©2006 Associated Newspapers Ltd ·

[newcastle kid]

Funding has been secured for both the Bishopsgate Tower and The Heron Tower.

Heron:

Ronson secures Oman funding for £500m skyscraper
By Jim Pickard, Property Correspondent

Published: November 23 2006 22:23 | Last updated: November 23 2006 22:23

Gerald Ronson, the property tycoon, is to proceed with one of London’s tallest office skyscrapers after securing funding from the State of Oman.

The £500m Heron Tower is one of a slew of new towers pencilled in for the Square Mile that will change the London skyline.

[newcastle kid]

Bishopsgate Tower:

Arab Investments to acquire London's 'Helter-skelter'

From Property Week 24.11.2006
A consortium fronted by Middle Eastern investment firm Arab Investments has emerged as the front runner to acquire the site for DIFA’s proposed 945 ft ‘Helter-skelter’ tower in the City of London.

By Daniel Thomas

Arab Investments, a developer and property investor, placed the site on Bishopsgate under offer this week. It has pulled together funding from a number of sources in the Middle East to acquire the site.

DIFA has already secured consent for London’s tallest tower on the site: a 60-storey Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed tower with more than 950,000 sq ft (88,257 sq m) of office space.

It is understood that Arab Investments has agreed to pay near the asking price of £200m for the site. Savills is advising DIFA.

The acquisition would mark a considerable step up for Arab Investments in the City of London. Earlier this year, the firm acquired 36-41 Gracechurch Street for around £25m from Quintain.

[newcastle kid]

That means in 2007 London should see work (Construction, enabeling work or demolition on site) on these Skyscrapers:

The Shard (310m)
Bishopsgate Tower (288m)
Heron Tower (242m)
122 Leadenhall (225m)
Riverside South T1 (214m)
Riverside South T2 (189m)
Broadgate Tower (165m) (already well U/C)

Also, the much hated 20 Fenchurch street is being called in for a public enquiry.

[newcastle kid]

Beetham have submitted their 175m London tower for approval. If this gets approval, It should start straight away. It could start late next year.

From Beetham
"Planning has been submitted to Southwark Council for a 52-storey glass tower that will combine 64 super luxury residences, a 261 bedroom super luxury hotel operated by Jumeirah, together with a public viewing gallery at the top of the building. The 64 spectacular residences are situated on the top floors of the building offering spectacular views of London.
Completion of this development is planned for 2011 in time for the London 2012 Games."
The new design:


Thank you Jef from SSC for all of the news

[nick-taylor]

Recent aerial of the Square Mile. The terminus at the bottom is London Bridge (world's oldest terminus), while the railway line running along the bottom of the picture is the worlds oldest elevated railway (its built up on brick viaducts). Next to London Bridge station are two towers. The grey and furthest left tower is Guys Tower - the world's tallest hospital. The right tower which is at angle is occupied by PriceWaterhouseCooper - this tower will be demolished to make way for the 1,000ft+ London Bridge Tower. Towards Tower Bridge is the location of the Greater London Assembly Building (the testicle) and More London - various developments u/c designed by Foster

Moving across the river from London Bridge there are two towers that appear to be 'wrapped up in white film'. The top one is Draper Gardens - a rather attractive 60's tower that was at one time one of the tallest towers in the City...it is now being demolished to make way for a smaller tower.

Concentrating to the left of the Gherkin/Swiss RE, the Foster-designed three tier Willis Building or 51 Lime Street has topped out and cladding is rising. To the north of Swiss RE is the mass of red cranes building the Broadgate Tower (160m).

[nick-taylor]

New tower that is just outside Canary Wharf - this area is seeing a LOT of residential towers pop up

[nick-taylor]

Mega London Bridge Tower renders.....WARNING: They are big!















































Image of Mayor Livingstone over-looking the LBT and LBT baby projects (also some redevelopment work of London Bridge Station.

[nick-taylor]

Transport for London has just released its plan for up to and including 2025. The major highlights are:

- Crossrail: The biggest project not only in London but in all of the UK, it has a price tag of $30bn (the East Side Access project into Grand Central Terminal for comparison is $6.3bn). involving brand new lines, it will see London Heathrow Airport connected to London via new lines through London's West End, the Square Mile, Canary Wharf and Stratford: essentially London's 3 CBD's, with the latter being the 4th and u/c. The impact of Crossrail is so large (12 carriage trains at 2min intervals) that it will add 15% to total commuter rail network capacity.

- Crossrail 2: Instead of going west-east like Crossrail, Crossrail 2 will go north-south. Again, the impact on travel will be significant. With Crossrail 2, Tottenham Court Road station would have direct access to London's 5 internvational airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and City Airports. There are also plans for a Crossrail 3 and Crossrail 4.

- Thameslink: Already operational but constricted through Central London due to several bottlenecks to 8tph. Expansion will allow for up to 30tph each direction, meaning with Crossrail and Crossrail 3, there would be 3 networks that criss-cross London, essentially imagine NJ Transit and the LIRR as one system, ie both continuing without terminating and offering a very high capacity service (each line could handle close to 1mn people each day).

- Channel Tunnel Rail Link: To open next March, this is a completely new route via tunnels under London that will allow for Eurostars to travel far faster than they currently do as they wind their way through South London. London Waterloo International, the current terminus for Eurostars will be transferred to commuter rail usage, while London St Pancras will become their new home. The 400m long passenger trains are the longest trains in the world (Shinkansen 500 Series are as long) and wil l be completely under-shelter via a modern extension to the original Barlow shed. Stratford is also having a station built to serve regional services, the Stansted Express to London Stansted Airport, Canary Wharf, the Stratford City development and the 2012 London Olympics. The CTRL will also be used by Shinkansen that will operate high-speed commuter rail express services from Kent into London St Pancras (this will in turn massively free up capacity on the South London commuter lines).

- London Overground Phases: There are several railway lines that cross-London (ie they avoid Central London), but they are served by old trains and poor tracks and stations. The London Overground project will change all this, by completely revamping these lines and upgrading them to allow for metro-frequencies and aiding in the movement of traffic around London that avoids Central London. Another key part of this project is the creation of an Orbital service around Central London ensuring that passengers will be able to move across London by avoiding the congested Central London terminals all together. In the future, London will have two metro networks: London Underground and London Overground.

- Thames Gateway Bridge: This would become the 2nd biggest bridge across the Thames, but would probably be its most vital and most used. The reason is simple: there is a lack of a major crossing between Blackwall Tunnel (where the Millennium Dome is) and the Dartford Tunnel/Queen Elizabeth II Bridge out in the east. There would be 5 lanes each direction: 3 dedicated to road traffic, 1 to buses and another to light-rail/trams.

- Silvertown Link: Another crossing, this time practically next-door to the Blackwall Tunnel, but
would be going towards London City Airport, so there would be a 'Y' plan view. This would be composed of road, pedestrian and probably a new Docklands Light Railway alignment.

- DLR Extensions: The DLR is a profitable hybrid railway - it isn't a tram/light railway due to its complete separation from other modes of transport (it is either on viaducts or in tunnel), but neither a metro due to its lower capacity (although the doubling of capacity will ensure that it has more capacity than other cities railway networks). Its profitability has ensured that it can expand, and expand at a quick pace, it is already 30km long and by 2015 it could be some 50km in length, one extension is being built under the Thames in new tunnels, another will start construction soon, while another is under going consultation.

- Trams: London currently has one tram network in South London based around Croydon, and it is set to see several expansions. Other areas of London are set to get trams. One will slice through Central London, another will follow the Uxbridge Road in West London, the City of London has plans for one, and East and North London could soon get their own networks.

- Northern Line Separation: The Northern Line is currently one line with two branches that really operate as two lines (map here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...thern_Line.svg ). The problem here however is that the convergence/divergence of the two branches means that there are two major bottlenecks at Camden Town (graphic of Camden Town) and Kennington; this results in services being heavily disrupted if just one train is 'misses' its slot at either end of the branch. Hence most Londoners dread the Northern and try to stay away from it. Naturally this isn't good for the city, so the next best thing would be to bore-new tunnels and separate the lines in to two which is exactly what is going to happen. Camden Town will be completely re-modelled to allow for both lines to each have 30tph directional services) meaning London will have another Underground line.













Broadgate Tower & 201 Bishopsgate - yes they did put Xmas lights on the cranes








51 Lime Street/Willis Building