"What to do with a 45-Story skyscraper and no tenants"

" What to do with a 45-Story skyscraper and no tenants \r\n Two bronze lions, each sitting atop eight lucky coins, flank the entrance to the HSBC Tower in London\u2019s Canary Wharf, meant to bring prosperity and good luck to the bank and roughly 8,000 workers inside its global headquarters. \r\n But the building\u2019s fortunes are changing \u2014 much for the worse \u2014 with the bank relocating in 2027 after more than two decades in the Norman Foster-designed tower. Its new home will be a space roughly half the size in the City of London. \r\n Without its tenant, the landlord at Qatar\u2019s sovereign wealth fund may struggle to find an employer needing so much space. But it\u2019s not alone, and many property investors are facing a similar dilemma. In a post-pandemic world, the 45-story tower may become a 200-meter-tall conundrum representing the challenges ahead in cities worldwide as companies downsize for hybrid work. \r\n The outlook for these buildings has gotten so bad that some\u00a0 investors are snapping up these empty carcasses for demolition , betting the land they sit on is now worth more than the structure itself. That newly vacant plot could then be redeveloped for high-rise housing, much needed in developed and emerging cities. New York City recently rolled out a plan\u00a0 to change zoning rules for Midtown Manhattan to allow more offices to be converted to apartments. \r\n The most logical outcome \u00a0could be a conversion \u2014 with the tower turned into accommodation for students or others, rather than torn down. \r\n That might seem to be a convenient solution to three urban problems. First, long-term demand for office space has been decimated by the pandemic, with London estimated to have the equivalent of\u00a0 60 Gherkins \u00a0of empty office space last year. Secondly, because the UK\u2019s housing crisis totals some\u00a0 4.3 million units , according to the Centre for Cities, the average house in England costs more than 10 times the average salary. Lastly, landlords are being urged to reuse or recycle buildings rather than demolish, due to the heavy carbon footprint of the construction industry. \r\n Success stories include\u00a0 Parker Tower , a 1960s concrete office block in London\u2019s Covent Garden, which after thorough renovation and a new fa\u00e7ade, has now been converted into homes. Another example is\u00a0 Leon House in Croydon , a 20-story Brutalist office block that was turned into 263 flats. \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n But it\u2019s not always possible, said Robert Sloss, chief executive of HUB, a developer that is reworking\u00a0 a \u00a330 million ($39 million)_1950s office block \u00a0in the City of London into flats. The budget for the conversion hasn\u2019t been determined. \r\n \u201cNot every building can convert to residential \u2014 it\u2019s not a panacea for every defunct office,\u201d he said. \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n The viability of an office-to-residential conversion depends on the building itself. Chief among issues is the \u201cfloor depth\u201d: the distance from the windows to the midpoint of its floor plate. Buildings constructed as offices can be much deeper than those built to be homes, given open-plan office layouts allow natural light to filter to the center. \r\n The sheer scale of the HSBC tower makes it an unlikely candidate for housing, said Ben Clifford, an associate professor of at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. \r\n \u201cIt would be incredibly challenging to convert,\u201d he said. \u201cThe scale makes it more difficult: not necessarily the height. There are some very tall residential buildings.\u201d \r\n But \u201cwhat will you do with the middle?\u201d he asked. \r\n HSBC\u2019s landlord, the Qatar Investment Authority, didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment. \r\n The fa\u00e7ades of office buildings can be an issue, too. Skyscrapers with all-glass exteriors might seem modern, but these designs have been around for over 100 years, heralded by Modernists like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who built the Seagram Building in midtown Manhattan and the Federal Center in Chicago. The glass skin can create a summer greenhouse inside. \r\n The solution then is to add areas of solid mass, said Tim Gledstone, partner at Squire and Partners, whose firm added an extra fa\u00e7ade in the office-to-residential conversion of Parker Tower. \u201cWhen it\u2019s all glass it overheats.\u201d \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <img class=\"ui-image high-res-img\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/-1x-1.jpg\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1px) and (max-width: 619px) 220px,\r\n (min-width: 620px) and (max-width: 759px) 480px,\r\n (min-width: 760px) and (max-width: 1019px) 640px, 1200px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/220x147.jpg 220w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/480x320.jpg 480w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/720x480.jpg 720w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/960x640.jpg 960w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/1020x680.jpg 1020w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/1280x854.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/1400x934.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/1800x1201.jpg 1800w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/inWTF3Jk99Tk\/v0\/2000x1334.jpg 2000w\" alt=\"NYC's Secret Weapon to Keep Finance Elite Is Park Avenue Revamp\" data-component=\"high-res-img\" \/> \r\n The Seagram Building on Park Avenue in New York. Photographer: Jeenah Moon\/Bloomberg \r\n \r\n Conversions must consider ventilation, too. Many office buildings have windows that are sealed shut. Instead, fresh air circulates via a central ventilation system, which would likely need to be redeveloped to supply separate units instead of one large floor. \r\n Location can also hold back office-to-residential conversions. The most successful sites are in city centers that already have a mix of residential and office spaces, said Gledstone. This works against the HSBC tower, located in an area that is predominantly offices \u2014 and within a borough that has seen\u00a0 falling house prices . \r\n It would be \u201cmore straightforward\u201d to convert the building into laboratory space, said Clifford, which would fit in with Canary Wharf\u2019s aims to\u00a0 turn the area into a life-sciences hub . A multi-purpose layout might work too, he said, with \u201csome residential, some lab space, some hotel space, even some office space, but a smaller amount.\u201d \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n Gledstone said it may well be possible to convert the HSBC tower into flats, although its architectural quirks would have to become design features. One precedent is New York\u2019s 24-story 1929 art deco Walker Tower, a former telephone building that reopened in 2013 after conversion into\u00a0 apartments fetching some $2 million to more than $50 million . Architects worked around its high ceilings, originally to house large telephone equipment, and big windows, needed for ventilation, to create loft-like homes. \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <img class=\"ui-image high-res-img\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/-1x-1.jpg\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1px) and (max-width: 619px) 220px,\r\n (min-width: 620px) and (max-width: 759px) 480px,\r\n (min-width: 760px) and (max-width: 1019px) 640px, 1200px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/220x318.jpg 220w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/480x694.jpg 480w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/640x926.jpg 640w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/720x1041.jpg 720w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/960x1389.jpg 960w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/1020x1475.jpg 1020w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/1200x1736.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/1280x1851.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/iYOeRTDnByTw\/v1\/1382x1999.jpg 1382w\" alt=\"Walker Tower in Manhattan\u0092s Chelsea is a former Art Deco telephone company switching building, reborn as condominium residences.\" data-component=\"high-res-img\" \/> \r\n Walker Tower in Manhattan\u2019s Chelsea district. Photographer: Kenneth Grant\/Alamy \r\n \r\n \u201cIt's the classic New York style \u2014 big brick office buildings,\u201d said Geldstone. \u201cNice high ceilings, generous corridor with studies or music rooms off there, big living rooms.\u201d \r\n Similar treatment at a deep-set building like HSBC at 8 Canada Square could mean enormous warehouse-like apartments, given each upper floor has a 3,136\u00a0 square-meter floor plate \u00a0(33,756 square feet). Even 12-meter deep apartments are \u201chuge,\u201d said Geldstone, let alone ones that are around twice that. To avoid the feeling of industrial depots, internal spaces could be shrunk by recessing the flats away from the windows, and making the outer edge into \u201cwinter gardens\u201d: balconies that are partially or entirely covered in glass, allowing for use in colder weather. That may not be possible depending on the floor slabs, Geldstone said. \r\n Another way of solving the issue of a deep floor plate is to add a lightwell, said Sloss. \u201cA lot of these conversions with deep floor plates will have to have atriums put in,\u201d he said. Although Clifford said this would be only a \u201cpossibility\u201d for a building of this scale: \u201cIt would be hugely expensive to do something like that,\u201d he said. \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n "

"What to do with a 45-Story skyscraper and no tenants"

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