黑洞社区

Sir Stuart Lipton wants people to know he鈥檚 not finished with this industry just yet. He turned 76 two weeks ago, prompting inevitable questions about when he might pack it all in. But the veteran developer behind the City of London鈥檚 soon-to-be tallest tower, 22 Bishopsgate, is not quite ready to call it a day.

鈥淢y mentor is [US developer] Gerry Hines and he鈥檚 93. He鈥檚 still going strong. He came to 22 Bishopsgate a few months ago and he said one word: 鈥榳inner鈥�. There is something in this industry called experience.鈥�

Tall and imposing 鈥� the photographer thinks he must have a good osteopath 鈥� Lipton whips out a note sent by a friend. 鈥淚 have a wonderful quote a pal at Imperial College gave me the other day. I think it鈥檚 a Bernard Shaw quote: 鈥榃e don鈥檛 stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing.鈥欌��

鈥満诙瓷缜鴖 are like children. You start them out in life, you try and bring them up properly and you hope that when they grow up they will be looked after鈥�

Lipton鈥檚 right 鈥� it is George Bernard Shaw 鈥� and the developer has at least two big games left to play before he quits the field. One is that he wants to build another tower in the City of London. 鈥淭he City is a very good place to work. They鈥檙e real pros in the planning department; they鈥檙e decent and they listen.鈥� 

His other big ambition is that he wants to start building homes. 

Seeking social change

Lipton is scathing about housebuilders, suggesting the Romans did a better job and demonstrably angry about the Persimmon bonus scandal and the Help to Buy initiative: 鈥淭he government buying private jets for housebuilders is rather naive.鈥�

He thinks housebuilders are failing left, right and centre. 鈥淗ave you seen what housebuilders are building in the suburbs and provinces? They are reincarnating Victorian workhouse houses. Shameful. If people had better homes, if they had better conditions, their aspirations would be greater, their medical bills would be less, their educational standards would be higher and they wouldn鈥檛 be going around knifing people.鈥�

His ire and desire to do something stems from his time heading a taskforce set up by then mayor of London Boris Johnson in the wake of the Tottenham riots seven summers ago.

Called the Independent Panel on Tottenham, it reported in December 2012 after Lipton and his team spent 18 months looking at ways to improve the prospects of people living and working in the north London borough.

鈥淭ottenham taught me a lot,鈥� he admits. 鈥淕ot to get into the real world.鈥� He鈥檚 now involved with the XLP charity 鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 just a helper鈥� 鈥� which is aimed at helping youngsters on deprived inner-city estates eschew gangs and a life of crime. He says he鈥檚 driven by social issues and admits that, like the housebuilders, developers have been failing too.

鈥淲e need decent conditions for our kids to work in. We need housing where people are motivated, invigorated, have aspirations in life [but] we read about kids being killed. This comes from living in awful conditions, conditions where there鈥檚 no fun, nothing to do. A roof over your head should be a basic tenet of life. We as developers, in my view, are at fault.鈥�

Lipton says that in the next three or four months Lipton Rogers 鈥� the firm he set up with his Stanhope co-founder Peter Rogers five years ago 鈥� will team up with First Base, the mixed-use developer run by his son Elliot, to look at building flats on brownfield sites in and around London.

鈥淸Housebuilding] requires a lot of energy,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an interesting piece of turf. It鈥檚 a personal interest; I鈥檝e done my bit on commercial. This is the field where demand is unlimited. Social change is the great thing for me.鈥�

Thinking big

Lipton is not done with commercial just yet, though. When 22 Bishopsgate is completed 鈥� which Lipton says is likely to be in November next year 鈥� it will be the tallest tower in the Square Mile, at 278m.

It鈥檚 not only in terms of height that Twentytwo looms large. It has a construction cost of 拢600m and a gross floor area of 2 million ft². Lipton admits he had hoped the job would be finished next summer but says the b锚te noir of high-rise towers, wind, has meant the completion date has slipped a few months. 

鈥淭his is a very big chap. Wind is the predominant factor [for the delay]. Every contractor makes a calculation with wind.鈥� Any contractors cursed by the wind and wind-related wrangles with demanding clients might take comfort by the following assertion from Lipton: 鈥淭his idea we can define dates on a high-rise is a misunderstanding.鈥� In other words, mother nature makes delays on high-rises inevitable. 

The first tenants have been signed up for Twentytwo, with three insurance firms 鈥� French giant Axa, which is helping bankroll the scheme, plus Hiscox and Beazley 鈥� taking 10 floors between them. Lipton says he expects up to half of the 62-storey tower to be let by the time it opens, with the first tenants moving into the building in early 2020.

Brexit, he admits, is putting the brakes on some firms鈥� decision-making. Following the referendum result in June 2016, work on the scheme stopped for a couple of months before restarting. The team, says Lipton, were emboldened to do so because the tower 鈥渉as virtually no competition鈥�. He adds: 鈥淏rexit isn鈥檛 affecting demand; it鈥檚 just making things slower. What tenant is going to sign up at the moment?鈥�

An even more pressing concern is who will be working on the site next March once the UK leaves the EU. Around 1,200 staff are on site round the clock, for five days a week. Lipton says he doesn鈥檛 know exactly how many EU nationals are among them but hazards: 鈥淚 guess about half. I don鈥檛 know who鈥檚 going to be working here after March.

鈥淭here are undoubtedly a lot of foreign people on sites. I am presuming that Brexit will be some kind of soft Brexit and I鈥檓 not expecting a cliff edge in March. But I am aware that people are going home. The value of the pound is affecting people. I can obviously see [that with] a hard Brexit, there will be problems.鈥�

Once it is completed, Lipton says he will be proud of the building, which has been designed by PLP, the firm set up nine years ago by five former directors of Kohn Pedersen Fox 鈥� the practice behind the original proposal for the site, the so-called Helter Skelter.

He knows Twentytwo has its critics, mainly because of its height and bulk. And as an architecture patron 鈥� he was the first chair of architecture watchdog Cabe (see Bring back Cabe, above) 鈥� he is more aware than most that high-rises divide opinion.

鈥淚 think this is a decent building. I wouldn鈥檛 personally have put my name to it [if it wasn鈥檛],鈥� he says. 鈥淭he City wanted this building to be calm; this building is not shouting. You have Richard [Rogers鈥� Cheesegrater building] on one side and Tower 42. I don鈥檛 actually agree with the fact that this is anything but an interesting building. Yes, it is tall, but if I look around me I鈥檓 seeing nothing but Plain Jane buildings apart from 42.鈥�

Controversy

While at Stanhope, Lipton worked on another building that divided opinion at the time: the Central Saint Giles scheme, which was Italian architect Renzo Piano鈥檚 first major scheme in London and is known for its bright colours. Lipton had his doubts about some of the palettes. 鈥淚 said: 鈥榃hy are these colours being used?鈥� He [Piano] said: 鈥楾his is an area where change is required; it鈥檚 a depressed area鈥�. I think it鈥檚 a great building.鈥�

Lipton asserts that 22 Bishopsgate is driven by changes in the way people work nowadays. 鈥淲ork and home have merged. We have to distinguish between office buildings which are decent workplaces and workhouses which are old-style.鈥� 

Lipton reckons he will be most proud of One Finsbury, the building designed by Peter Foggo from Arup Associates at the 1980s Broadgate office campus, which he and Rogers developed behind Liverpool Street station. Parts of it have already been demolished, and a few years ago Lipton was involved in a spat with Make founder Ken Shuttleworth after he described the latter鈥檚 plan to replace 4 and 6 Broadgate with a new building, called 5 Broadgate, for banking giant UBS as 鈥渢he worst large building in the City for 20 years鈥�.

Broadgate is now being redeveloped by British Land. Lipton gives his blessing to the work going on there and to the architects 鈥� AHMM and Hopkins among others 鈥� hired to draw up plans. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all very good.鈥� He adds: 鈥淚鈥檝e had several buildings demolished. 黑洞社区s in my book are like children. You start them out in life, you try and bring them up properly and you hope that when they grow up they will be looked after.鈥�

But, seven years on, he hasn鈥檛 changed his mind about UBS鈥� 5 Broadgate. 鈥淚 only have one sadness, that was number 5, Ken Shuttleworth鈥檚 building. The building doesn鈥檛 work. The ultimate test is: will UBS be in that building in 10 years鈥� time? I wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if they found it not a successful building.鈥�

He says he鈥檚 got another good five years in him. Why keep doing it? 鈥淚 do it because it鈥檚 demanding, it鈥檚 emotional, it鈥檚 worthwhile, there鈥檚 a lot of good people. Some of the people I don鈥檛 necessarily like, I end up liking. I think that what matters is that we all do our best.鈥�

He鈥檚 got another reason for carrying on, too: 鈥淚t鈥檚 the poetry of the ordinary we have to worry about,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hose boxes built by housebuilders.