Land Securities has announced that it intends to continue with the construction of its much-discussed "Walkie Talkie" building, which is to be built at the location of 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3, even despite the fact that it has so far been unable to secure a single potential tenant.
Construction began in January on the building, which was designed by Rafael Vinoly, and when finished will contain as many as 37 storeys offering 690,000 square feet of world class office space in London, with each and every floor providing 360-degree views, topped off by a public sky garden.
The "Walkie Talkie" will provide Grade A office space in a somewhat supply constrained London market in 2014, with more than three million square feet of office leases set to either expire or potentially have breaks exercised every year during the course of the next four years. 3000 jobs will be created by the construction process.
"Work on site at this joint venture with Canary Wharf Group continues, with a commitment to deliver the scheme in spring 2014", Francis Salway, the chief executive officer of Land Securities, noted in their half year report, which was released last week. "Of the new office towers planned for the city, we expect our building to be the first to complete and that the supply of office space around this time will not be as great as some forecasts predict."
