Abandoned construction of The Pinnacle comes to a head

Construction work on London’s newest skyscraper ‘The Pinnacle’ could be scrapped in favour of a cheaper alternative, representatives announced this morning.

If completed, The Pinnacle – now ignominiously dubbed “the stump” for its partially completed central column - would become one of the tallest and most expensive skyscrapers in Europe, with its corkscrew-like design estimated to cost £1bn - £550m more than The Shard, which recently opened its doors to the public.

So far, only seven of the buildings planned 63 storeys have completed, with its construction halted almost 12 months ago as developers Arab Investments struggled to find sufficient funds or pre-lets to complete the build – as reported by SOS in Nov 2012.

A company spokesperson for the developer said a review of the future of the building has been launched by the company, who will consider “all options”, including a scaled back version, dubbed ‘Austerity Tower’.

[caption id="attachment_3724" align="aligncenter" width="460"] The Pinnacle - City of London. Source: Skyscrapercity[/caption]

Work began on the project in 2009, but construction of the £1bn tower ran into legal difficulties following funding problems, which caused the project’s lead architect to voice his concerns over the completion of the tower.

Lee Polisano, lead architect behind the design, said: “My own belief is the building that gets built will probably be a different building to that there at the moment.

“It is a shame that we have a very important piece of land at this key site that’s empty. It is logical to understand in these economic times a building of that sort is a difficult building to make financially, so I am not surprised to see something so ambitious being stopped.” He said.

The decision to reconsider The Pinnacle’s prospective future ties in with a sharp decline in construction on the London office space market, as well as continued uncertainty over the UK economy’s ability to avoid a triple-dip recession.

Economics director, Noble Francis believes the speculation is damaging confidence in London’s office markets, which has relied heavily on substantial investments from overseas developers in recent times.