The Shard
Sharply protruding into the London skyline is a glass tower that has invoked mixed reactions among Londoners. Constructed relatively quickly, the Shard now occupies an iconic place in the image of London and I’ll admit, in my opinion, Renzo Piano’s famed architecture has added some much needed flare to London’s south bank area.
It occupies a relatively small footprint which is literally situated on top of London Bridge station, taking over the ruins of Victorian archways and tunnels and replacing some unique bars and pubs with what will eventually become a new shopping arcade. From a land use perspective, London didn’t really lose any space. The tower was simply dropped on top of a train station which was in desperate need of modernization. Any morning commuter can attest to the fact that London Bridge station is bursting at the seams, so the station redevelopment and neighborhood regeneration is a welcome improvement. It was entirely privately funded by a consortium of private Qatari investors, so no public taxpayer money was wasted. So what is it about Europe’s tallest building that solicits so many disparate viewpoints?
The fact that London has three major central business districts in the West End, the City, and Canary Wharf raises the question of whether or not the addition of the South Bank as yet another business center is actually warranted. The Shard, along with it’s sister building, The Place, known as the Mini-Shard, comprise the new London Bridge Quarter development, joining More London as the primary office developments on the south side of the Thames. Combined together, along with additional improvements in infrastructure and further building projects, London Bridge and the South Bank will become a fourth CBD in London.
As it is vacancy in Canary Wharf has historically been higher than in other parts of London and still maintains competitive rental levels. However, with the available stock of large square footage and the ability to customize modern fit outs, it is becoming an increasingly ideal location of banks with JP Morgan, HSBC, Citigroup, Barclays, and Morgan Stanley already headquartered here. The West End office market is among the most expensive in the world and the stock of available space is limited, driving prices up and attracting the likes of private equity shops and hedge funds. The City continues to remain the preeminent location for all other financial services, including those banks which have not decided to relocate to the docklands. In a city built primarily around professional and financial services, where does this leave the Shard and the wider South Bank area?
Since it’s inception, the Shard has struggled to attract new tenants. Still under construction and only a ten minute walk across the bridge to the City, the “Walkie Talkie” and “Cheesegrater” towers are already approaching stabilized levels of tenancy signings. Despite it being one of the most interesting buildings in the city, is it that the Shard is suffering from an inherently dated anti-South London bias and the misconceptions that come with it? More London has demonstrated its resilience and has performed well since its launching, becoming the new headquarters for Big Four firms Ernst and Young and PwC. If it were purely a South London issue, then why have other projects been so successful at getting off the ground?
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| Her Majesty, The Queen’s visit to the Shard |
Believe it or not, one outrageous criticism of the Shard has been that it is a massive terrorist target. How it is anymore of a target than financial meccas in the City or Canary Wharf, I am unsure, but that could explain away some of the hesitancy on the parts of firms looking for new space. Others have claimed that the Shard, situated minutes from Borough Market and directly on top of London Bridge Station, is just too touristy to be a place of work. As a tenant of the Shard for almost a year now, I certainly agree here. Imagine working in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf or Pike’s Place in Seattle everyday for example. Although Borough Market is a fun place to eat, its novelty wears off after a while.
However, my own experience is that the Shard has some very well known deficiencies and tenants can probably find better options elsewhere. In a city loaded with sophisticated firms, news gets out quickly and my hunch is that people know more about some of the downsides that Sellar Group, the developer and management company, prefer to keep quiet. Bottom line, coming from Canary Wharf, the property management company is sub-par at best. The main lobby of the tower is not what you would expect of such a high profile skyscraper. Small and cheaply fit out, there are only two chairs in the waiting area. Although occupancy is currently low and we are nowhere near capacity, I can only imagine what this lobby will look like at 75 percent or even 50 percent occupancy. While on the outside the building was clearly expensive, the inside was fitted out on the cheap and was clearly an after thought. The lift bay, in an overly complicated automated system, does not set out to accomplish exactly what it is meant to do, streamline and speed up the task of getting upstairs to work. As the only tenants in the building, I cannot figure out why the waiting times are so long.
Basic day to day maintenance is a head scratcher also. As tenants, we have no rubbish bins at our desks and we are subjected to the constant noise of construction occurring below us in London Bridge Station as well as the floors above us. We force our way through swarms of tourists every morning only to reach the revolving doors of the Shard to be met with skepticism by building security that we are in fact paying office tenants and not visitors trying to get to the viewing platform. There is a serious lack of practical amenities in the area, so running lunchtime errands is pretty much impossible. Despite our constant feedback, the office seems too cold in winter and too hot in summer, the perils of working in a building made entirely of glass. No, despite even having a visit from the Queen, working in the Shard isn’t always as glamorous as it sounds. I won’t get into the story of the rat we encountered while occupying our temporary space last winter. Even the Shangri-La Hotel has encountered it’s own problems. The Financial Times revealed the other day that its double glass, floor to ceiling wall-window designs has resulted in patrons’ ability to see into the room next to them. All rooms are now being fitted with blinding curtains, defeating the purpose of staying in a room with supposedly breathtaking views starting at a cost of GBP 500 a night.
However, for all of my criticisms, I am bullish on the overall development and regeneration of the London Bridge and greater South Bank area. More London is the home of two of the colossal accounting firms and is a short walk from the Mayor’s Office. Residential towers have been approved with construction commencing shortly. London Bridge Station, with the addition of Cross Rail and the completion of the large-scale National Rail and Underground redevelopment, will become one of the finest transport hubs in London. The Mini-Shard is now 100 percent leased to NewsCorp and its subsidiary companies The Sunday Times, Harper Collins, and the Wall Street Journal, making it a major media headquarter. These signings have also helped to get the overall London Bridge Quarter’s occupancy figure to 65 percent for the first time in 2014. The Shard still struggles to obtain signings, but it will likely improve over time as the surrounding area is totally regenerated and becomes a more attractive business destination. We are probably a few years away from realizing this, but likewise Canary Wharf was a very different place five years ago than it is now. As with all neighborhoods in London, they are constantly changing and evolving. In the meantime, I will continue to navigate the crowds of lost tourists who are looking for the view from the Shard and will treat myself to the occasional overpriced Borough Market sausage to keep myself sane.
-KV
