DEAL WATCH: AXA to tower above Helter Skelter stump

AXA Real Estate and an international consortium have stolen a march on the plethora of high-rise plans for London after buying the site of the stalled Pinnacle Tower.

In February AXA Real Estate confirmed it has acquired the former Pinnacle site in the City of London on behalf of an international consortium of investors in an all-equity transaction.

Financial details were not disclosed, but the Financial Times has put the purchase price at around £300 mln (€407 mln). AXA declined to identify the investors behind the deal, one of whom is quoted by the FT as being Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.

The AXA consortium have revealed plans for a new building at the site, which is located at 22 Bishopsgate, London EC2 near Liverpool Street Station, with developer Lipton Rogers.

The new tower will be tallest in the City of London and one of the tallest in the UK and the rest of Europe. It will provide over 90,000 m2 of prime offices, including retail as well as restaurant and bar space. A planning application for the new 22 Bishopsgate tower will be submitted within the next few months. Construction is expected to commence by the end of 2015 with completion scheduled for the end of 2018.

22 Bishopsgate joins plans for another 262 new tall buildings of over 20 floors in the Greater London Area, compared to 236 plans last year, according to research by New London Architecture and consultants GL Hearn. Some 70 tall buildings are currently under construction, but 62 of these are residential.

Unhappy history
The 64-floor Pinnacle was to be the tallest tower in the City of London and the second tallest in Europe when its plans were unveiled in the mid-200s. The tower quickly earned the affectionate title 'Helter Skelter' due to its striking curved design.

But the tower with such high hopes was destined to become 'the tower that never was'. Construction began in 2008 during the Global Financial Crisis, and finance for the project ran out in 2012 after just seven floors had been built. This led to the stalled project earning yet another unofficial title, 'The Stump'.

AXA has simplified the original Pinnacle plans and replaced the Helter Skelter’s curved walls for a more conventional look. The first step of the construction involves the demolition of the stump of the Pinnacle to clear the area for the new tower.