Cheesegrater tower to go ahead as main contractor unveiled

Work on the “Cheesegrater” building is finally set to begin next month after developers British Land announced the appointment of Laing O’Rourke as the main contractor.

Construction Enquirer reports that Laing O’Rourke have been chosen as the main contractor for the Cheesegrater – or the Leadenhall Building, as it is officially known, which is a 47-storey, 736ft monster tower in the City of London.

The project is being developed by British Land and Oxford Properties and Laing O’Rourke beat out a host of other contractors, including Balfour Beatty, Mace and Sir Robert McAlpine, to win the £290 million contract.

In May, we talked about how the Cheesegrater project received a boost when insurance giants Aon (the sponsors of Manchester United) agreed to rent out 10 floors of the offices when the project is completed.

The work is expected to begin next month and will take around 3 years to complete, so will be finished in 2014/early 2015.

We first mentioned the Cheesegrater on Train4TradeSkills News last year, when the contractors were bidding against each other to win the contract. The tower has been nicknamed the “Cheesegrater” by the press due to its tapering shape and slanted wedge-shaped design. The nickname hasn’t gone down to well with British Land, who are the developers of the scheme. British Land boss Chris Grigg said back in December:

“We’re not massive fans. We think it will be a stunning piece of British architecture, so to call it a “Cheesegrater” is very disappointing.”

The good news is that the Cheesegrater project will likely create jobs for contractors in the capital over the next few years to add to the number of new schemes that are going ahead in London over the next few years.

What do you think about the Cheesegrater project in London? Let us know by commenting below or on the Train4TradeSkills Facebook and Twitter pages.

 

Related articles

• Cheesegrater project gets boost as Aon grabs a slice (train4tradeskills.wordpress.com)

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