Archinect - News

London’s Walkie Talkie Tower, previously titled "UK's worst building of the year", sells for a record $1.7 billion

2017-07-27T12:46:00-04:00

The price, a record for a single U.K. office property, is remarkable given that the building will face ongoing maintenance costs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including Tim Leckie wrote in a client note. LKK, which sells Chinese herbal medicines, paid a 13 percent premium to book value for the property even as Land Securities’s shares trade at a 26 percent discount, he said.

Land Securities Group Plc and Canary Wharf Group Plc agreed to sell the Rafael Viñoly-designed Walkie Talkie for 1.28 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) to Hong Kong-based LKK Health Products Group, founded in 1992 by the Lee Kum Kee family, whose primary business sells a variety of condiments.

Asian investors have poured into London’s office market in the year since the Brexit vote, capitalizing on the weak pound to buy towers for record-high prices. Hong Kong real estate developer C C Land Holdings paid 1.15 billion pounds for the Cheesegrater tower in May.

Reflecting on an era of architectural icons

2017-05-01T13:54:00-04:00

And still they come. The Gherkins, Shards, Walkie-Talkies, Cheesegraters, Scalpels, giant iPhones, Bird’s Nest stadiums, flying tabletops, big pants. Like the conveyor belt of consumer items that older readers will remember in Bruce Forsyth’s Generation Game, the supply of funny-looking buildings with funny names seems never-ending. Nicknames are converted into brands; satire and marketing merge.

There has been an era of architectural invention like few others, combined with a sense of hollowness, the feeling of not knowing what it’s all for.

Walkie Talkie Tower wins Carbuncle Cup for UK's worst building of the year

2015-09-02T12:06:00-04:00

A City of London skyscraper, nicknamed the Walkie Talkie, has won the annual Carbuncle Cup, awarded to a building judged to be the UK's worst. In its short history, the 37-storey office tower has melted parked cars and critics have compared its three-storey roof garden to an airport terminal. Thomas Lane, who runs the awards, said the carbuncle "crashes into London's skyline like an unwelcome party guest".

Previously:

Walkie Talkie Tower summons the elements again — this time it's wind!

2015-07-09T14:30:00-04:00

The City of London Corporation has promised a more "rigorous" assessment of developers' predictions of ground winds, following complaints about strong gusts outside the 20 Fenchurch Street Building, better known as the Walkie Talkie. "I almost got blown over the other day walking up past the building," a sales assistant working nearby said earlier this year. "When I got around the corner it was fine. I was scared to go back."

It's not the tower's first run-in with the laws of physics:

'Walkie Scorchie’ building given permanent sunshade

2014-05-16T14:13:00-04:00

The Walkie Talkie – or 20 Fenchurch Street – became known as the Walkie Scorchie because of its apparent ability to bounce heat from the sun on to buildings in the next street in the City of London. Yesterday, the developer, Land Securities, said that it had received planning permission for a “brise soleil” sunshade to be attached to the building to replace a temporary system erected last summer. Work is due to start this month.

Rafael Viñoly-designed "Walkie Talkie" skyscraper melts car with light reflections

2013-09-03T12:29:00-04:00

Developers have promised urgent action to “cover up” the Walkie Talkie skyscraper in the City after an ultra-bright light reflected from the building melted a Jaguar car on the streets below. The 525ft, £200 million building has been renamed the “Walkie Scorchie” after its distinctive concave surfaces reflected a dazzling beam of light which blinded passers-by and has now caused extensive damage to vehicles parked beneath it.