London is to become home to the tallest tower in western Europe with Spire London, by Greenland Group, one of China’s largest premium residential developers.
The announcement will be a filip to the UK capital’s prime new-build property market, which has been hit by falling investor confidence since Brexit.
“This important launch reflects the confidence that Greenland Group continues to have in both the London economy and the London property market,” says Wenhao Qian, the managing director of Greenland (UK) Investment.
“We believe that there is always a demand for ‘best in class’ property assets that offer a high quality, bespoke, designed and unique product in a prime location. In our view Spire London fulfils these criteria, and we believe there will be significant demand for the apartments within this tower from both the UK and overseas.”
The new building in London Docklands will stand 235 metres high, made up of 67-storeys of residential accomodation, with a gross development value (GDV) in excess of £800 million (Dh3.9 billion) will feature retailing, residents’ gardens and amenities including a 35th floor Spa and Club Bar.
Located in Hertsmere Road, adjacent to Canary Wharf and directly fronting onto the 30 acres of water in West India Quay, Spire London is designed by architects Larry Malcic and Christopher Colosimo of the architectural practice HoK, and the interior designer Nicola Fontanella of Argent Design.
The tower will provide 861 apartments of which 765 are for private sale. The private sale apartments include luxurious suites, one, two and three bedroom apartments, and three bedroom duplex penthouses.
Greenland says it currently has a £53bn GDV global portfolio of property and other assets, and is building more than 82 million square metres of new commercial and residential projects worldwide. Since 2012 the Group has undertaken overseas expansion and has projects in 80 cities and towns across China and 12 cities internationally.
The London Spire tower has been designed to provide uninterrupted panoramic views over the whole of London, the highest and most far-reaching ever provided by apartments in the capital, according to the developer, capturing the Thames, Canary Wharf, the City of London, and numerous famous and historic landmarks.
“The striking and unique architecture is inspired by the nautical history of the site and by the orchid, a flower cultivated in China for more than 3,000 years,” Greenland says.
“Three petals form the spire, creating faceted glass façades and nautical style ‘prow’ and ‘bow’ contours. The angled roof of the tower allows for outside terraces in the premier and penthouse apartments, whilst feature louvres allow for natural ventilation throughout the building. “
Around the tower there will be a new public realm with a paved piazza, entrance driveways, birch trees, sculptural benches, and to the northeast of the tower a dancing fountain, inspired by the one at Somerset House.
“Spire London offers the best lift provision of any new residential tower in London, with nine passenger lifts to the private apartment floors,” Greenland says.
“Most existing towers provide just 4-6 passenger lifts. The waiting time for a lift will be just 30 to 35 seconds, with the passenger cars travelling up the building faster than six metres per second.”
The construction of Spire London is underway. Above-ground demolition works at the site have been completed and piling for the tower will begin in January 2017 with the tower scheduled to reach the halfway point in height during the summer of 2018. Build completion is scheduled for 2020.
On October 13 the public launch of Spire London will take place in the exhibition suite created by Argent Design in Warehouse Number One, directly adjacent to the development site in Hertsmere Road. Apartments at Spire London are priced from £595,000.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
