Shell Centre Launches in Hong Kong Just a quick post to celebrate the Hong Kong launch of the Shell Centre development. Sadly for our Hong Kong readers, by the time you read this post you will have missed the “exclusive private cocktail event” to “welcome” the Shell Centre to Hong Kong, held at Savills Hong […]
Marking the homework – How developers pay for ‘independent’ checks on their affordable housing deals
After writing my last article on how surveyors appear to be deliberately manipulating valuations in order to reduce the affordable housing obligations on their clients, a number of people commented that those figures are supposed to be checked by financial viability consultants employed by the council. Surely, if the developer is trying to game the system, it […]
Surveying the Crisis – How surveyors are undermining the planning system
How is it possible that despite the huge construction boom in London, the city is still failing to provide the housing it needs? Much of this failure can be attributed to the way in which professionals have appeared to abuse their privileged role in the planning system to further the profits of their clients. In […]
Your New Destination?
These are the new hoardings around the podium of the Shell Centre on the South Bank. The Shell Centre was built as Shell’s corporate headquarters in the 1950s on public land leased from the London County Council. It contained a two large publicly accessible open spaces, a public square with a grade I listed […]
The Shell Centre and The Battle for Waterloo
The Shell Centre is currently the headquarters of the Shell International Petroleum Company. Built in 1954, at the time it was an innovative and controversial building. But love it or hate it, the plans to redevelop the site are a disaster, demonstrating all of the worst excesses of the current London development market. Eight tall […]
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