According to BD Online, ‘Herzog & de Meuron is working with the developer behind the Shard, Sellar Property Group, on credit crunch-defying designs for the tallest residential development in the country.

In an extraordinary move given Britain’s worsening recession, the Swiss-based practice is proposing three slender and snaking towers with respective heights of 100m, 200m and 250m, close to the 310m-high Renzo Piano-designed Shard and soon-to-be-redeveloped London Bridge station.

The towers, which would dwarf Ian Simpson’s proposed 175m-high Beetham Tower at Blackfriars, would boast 380 apartments, along with a hotel, and retail and cinema space. But the sheer scale of the project is already dividing opinion among the select few who have seen it.

Fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, whose home and studio would be overshadowed by the proposed skyscrapers, has seen early plans and backs the scheme, but said it needed modification before being submitted for planning.

‘This would fit in with the Shard,’ she said. ‘These blocks would be good for the area and will tie in with other things going on. At the moment, this area is only car parks and needs reworking.’(…)
The tallest tower, which would be 65 storeys, would include 121 flats along with the hotel, while the shortest, at 31 storeys, will boast 144 flats. The other tower will have a total of 115 flats contained within 51 storeys.

Sellar Property Group declined to comment, but is due to unveil the project officially with Herzog & de Meuron in mid-February.

The Shard itself is set to be the tallest tower in Europe. Work on the skyscraper- part of a wider £1.4 billion complex- is due to begin this month after a vital investment was made last month by Middle Eastern developer Qatari Diar.’ (…)

Read the whole article: www.bdonline.co.uk.