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Zandra Rhodes has rather spoiled the surprise planned by the developers of the Shard of Glass, Irvine Sellar and his son James. The pair will reveal designs next month for three residential towers to the south of the 310-metre Shard, which is to be built at London Bridge station.
But the curtain has been part-lifted by the actions of the fashion designer. Rhodes has an interest because she lives and works in a brightly painted Mexican-style blockhouse, which stands out like a sunflower in nearby Bermondsey Street.
"They would fit in with the Shard," she told Building Design magazine after seeing the drawings of the towers produced by Tate Modern architects Herzog & de Meuron.
"These blocks would be good for the area. But you don't need blocks annihilating Bermondsey Street."
Others who have seen the drawings say they show three slim-faceted towers of 100 metres, 200 metres and 250 metres, sprouting from the complex of Victorian railway arches that lie along the south-west side of the station. This week, the Sellar Property Group confessed it was to launch the oddly named Project 3 Houses on 17 February.
In fact, the triple towers will contain 380 apartments, along with a hotel, shops, a cinema and public swimming pool. The tallest tower, at 65 storeys, will contain 121 flats and a hotel.
Well, that is the idea. As Irvine Sellar knows to his cost, it can take years before work can even start on site - nine years to be precise in the case of the Shard. Here, the old office blocks that stood on the site have only just been levelled. Presumably Network Rail, which owns the arches, is happy enough for Sellar Property to come up with what sounds like an attractive idea. But the state-owned body can't just link up with the first bidder.
A competition will need to be held to select a development partner. Network Rail operates a particular form of slow torture during a process that can take years - and can stall if even there is just one leaf on the financial line. Presumably Sellar and his son James, who is taking a front seat on the project, are lining up financial partners.
The Qataris, who came to the rescue with £800 million to build the Shard by 2012, have no doubt been told of this new opportunity to spend more oil money.
But that does leave the problem of turning pencil sketches into a detailed planning permission - even if a deal is done with Network Rail.
Developers of big projects normally give a pre-launch peek to those who will influence the decision. In this case, that will have probably included Southwark Council, possibly the Mayor - and obviously Zandra Rhodes.
James Sellar has wisely chosen a "starchitect" in the swish Swiss practice of Herzog & de Meuron, which has designed a football stadium for the company in Portsmouth.
That will mute criticism of the design. It's just a pity that Zandra Rhodes could not be muted. But at least her criticisms were.
Boris facing a Crossrail row
Conservationists will be delighted to learn that Boris Johnson has irked a property developer. Last week the Mayor said no to a prosaic eight-storey development near Victoria station.
Not because he argued the block was an affront to the eye. Precedents were long ago set in Victoria. Rather, Boris wants a cheque for £866,000 from Terrace Hill and its partner Doughty Hanson to help pay for Crossrail.
This has made the pair very cross. Firstly, because Westminster council has extracted an undisclosed sum for granting permission this month: secondly, because the developer's lawyers think the Mayor is acting beyond his powers.
Boris's decision was dismissed as “not relevant”, by the developer, which has vowed to press on.
The Mayor can say no to big developments. But the developer's lawyers reckon they can tell Boris to go boil his head. They argue he has not fully consulted on raising £600 million for Crossrail from a tithe on new development. Until he does, they can ignore him. Boris, what do your lawyers say?
Why you're not likely to make money in offices
Do not buy an office block for the grandchildren if you win the lottery. Stick to a block of flats.
Last week the Soho home of Estates Gazette was put up for sale for £12.5 million by ING Real Estate. That's £10 million less than the fund paid three years ago.
EG's owners paid £9 million in 1992. They sold for not much more 12 years later.
However, there is one lucky winner, which is property company Moorvale.
After buying the 17,000 sq ft four-storey sixties block from EG in 2004 the developer spruced it up and sold to the luckless Dutch for £22.5 million in 2006.
The prices of UK office blocks have barely shifted in the long term since a sterling organisation called the Investment Property Databank began tracking prices nearly 25 years ago.
Examine the IPD capital values index for offices, which begins life at 100 in 1986. At the peak of the eighties boom, in January 1989, the index was up to 165. In other words prices were up 65%.
When the EG offices were bought in 1992 the index had sunk back to 140. When the offices were sold in 2004 the index was actually 16 points lower at 124. When Moorvale sold to ING in 2006, it was back up to 140.
At the peak of the boom in July 2007 it was a dart player's delight at 180. Today the index is way down again at 115: so, that's up just 15% in 23 years.
House prices meanwhile have risen almost fivefold.
Conclusion: if commercial property companies had spent 20% of their capital on homes for rent over the past quarter of a century, their balance sheets would look a whole lot healthier than they do this week.
Home truth from Beckett?
Poor Margaret Beckett: the caravanning housing minister was sneered at last weekend for suggesting there were signs of life in the housing market.
Maybe she had seen an advance copy of a survey of estate agents, compiled by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and published on Monday.
This showed that the number of would-be buyers registering with estate agents has risen to its highest since 2006. Maybe the Member for Derby South has relatives in America: there are now reports of buyers coming out of hibernation in New York.
Or perhaps the minister has simply divined the zeitgeist. Lowered prices and lowering mortgage rates are indeed pricking interest.
Add to that a certain restlessness that catches everyone at the start of the year. What do you get ? Why, Mr Zeitgeist whispering: “Go on, get out of the house — go find a new one.”
Peter Bill is editor of Estates Gazette www.estatesgazettegroup.com
