The tapered tower has a glass facade consisting of some eleven thousand window panes. The seemingly unfinished spire is designed to act as a radiator to naturally dissipate excess heat, thus reducing the need for air-conditioning. The building is multifunctional, with offices and a hotel at the lower floors and residential apartments on the upper floors.
The observatory on the 72nd floor offers some spectacular 360 degree views of the city and is open to the public. This is the highest public viewing gallery in London, almost twice as high as the London Eye. On a clear day you can see as far as sixty kilometres. It’ s incredible and I would certainly recommend booking a trip to the top, having a drink and soaking up the panoramic view. Its well worth a visit.
Tate Modern 2- Switch House In 2016, the Switch House opened to the public. It is an extension to the existing Tate Modern Art Gallery, a converted power station and itself a world symbol of contemporary art. The Switch House is a futuristic, eco-friendly building, located where the old power station’ s fuel tanks used to be. While the original project was designed as a glass stepped pyramid, it was modified and now features a brick sloping façade, to match the original power station’ s appearance.
Its unique, bold and energy efficient design has won the Gherkin many awards including the Stirling Prize, the London Region Award, and the Emporis Skyscraper Award.
Unfortunately the building is not open to the public for viewing.
The Shard This 95-story sky scraper was designed by famous architect Renzo Piano. At a height of 310 metres, the Shard is the tallest building in Western Europe. The first 72 stories are habitable; the levels above make up the balance of the upper spire. Its name quite obviously derives from the fact that it resembles a glass shard pointing upwards into the sky.
It is situated in the London Bridge Quarter in Southwark, on the south bank of the river Thames, with only the river separating it from the City of London. The area is full of history. The Romans built a bridge here around 50 AD and in 1836 London’ s first railway station opened nearby.
King’ s Cross Station- revamped The station redevelopment has been the catalyst for one of the largest regeneration schemes in Europe, attracting £ 2.2bn of private investment.
The bright, spacious new concourse is the largest single-span structure in Europe. It opened in March 2012 in time to welcome the world for the London Olympics.
The new design combines the original Victorian façade with a modern atrium featuring a curved semitransparent roof. This to me is a fine example of how in London, old and new work so well together.
CONCLUSION
We love the city of London from an investment perspective due to it’ s ever evolving landscape and continual striving to be a top global city, good rule of law, stability, and added to this solid capital and rental growth. The graph below reflects the last 21 years, the capital growth tracks 9,1 % per annum with rentals on top of that. With this type of energy and vision, the future looks bright for Londoners and for those who invest in it.
RESOURCES
Inventure Property Projects
www. reimag. co. za OCTOBER 2016 SA Real Estate Investor 59