Walbrook Square designs endangered following Metrovacesa's departure from the London project
A collaboration between architects Norman Foster and Jean Nouvel in central London looks all but cancelled following the departure of Spanish property company Metrovacesa from the UK project.
The Walbrook Square project in the City of London had already been substantially delayed due to a legal wrangle between Metrovacesa and freeholder Legal & General. Stanhope had been appointed development manager on the scheme.
However, the Spanish property firm has now pulled out of the scheme, incurring a £100m penalty, according to media reports. The £300m Walbrook Square scheme, designed by Pritzker prize winners Norman Foster and Jean Nouvel, was to be a set of 22-storey tower blocks. Their imposing designs had already led to it being nicknamed “Darth Vader's Helmet”.
Bovis Lend Lease stood down its Walbrook Square project team as long ago as October 2008, and the project's status had been unclear ever since, with rumours circulating that architect Gensler could be brought on to see the scheme through.
But Metrovacesa's departure will almost certainly put an end to Foster and Nouvel's proposals for the scheme.
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