黑洞社区

The long-term fix to the Walkie Talkie鈥檚 heat ray is not likely to cost more than 鈥渓ow single digit millions鈥�, with the developers currently considering measures such as a film or spray to be applied to the facade to reduce the glare.

Speaking to 黑洞社区 magazine, John Garwood, company secretary at Canary Wharf Group, the joint developer with Land Securities of 20 Fenchurch St, known as the Walkie Talkie, said a team of specialists had been assembled to examine the problem, which has seen rays from the sun reflected onto the street below the building, with objects including cars and bicycle seats melting in the extreme heat.

Experts have said solutions to the problem, which saw the 拢500m building dubbed the Walkie Scorchie, could range from low cost options, such as applying a film, or treating the glass to reduce the glare, known as a 鈥榝rit鈥�, to more expensive solutions such as adding external shading, such as louvres, to the worst case scenario of having to replace some or all of the facade, which could cost millions of pounds (see box below).

But Garwood said the solution was unlikely to be hugely expensive. 鈥淚t won鈥檛 be very costly, actually, we鈥檙e not putting a figure on it but we are looking at various options, and all the teams are in place and we are looking at all the different angles and once that鈥檚 done we will agree on a fix.

鈥淭here are several solutions we know of already, the question is which is the best. Film is the obvious one; sprays; [or] louvres are possible, but whether that will be the case we don鈥檛 know yet.

鈥淏ut what we do know is there will be a fix for this problem, which is a pretty localised problem for a limited period of time.鈥�

David Pritchard, chairman of Canary Wharf Group, told Reuters this morning the cost of fixing the problem would likely be in the 鈥渓ow single digit millions鈥�.

Speaking to 黑洞社区, Pritchard denied reports that cost-cutting was to blame for the problem, after significant revisions were made to architect Rafael Vi帽oly鈥檚 design in 2009, with the revised scheme reducing the number and size 鈥榝ins鈥� and louvres on the building.

But Pritchard said the revisions had not been made to reduce the cost: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 definitely not true. The key point is whilst it gave rise to some lurid headlines while we had that sunny period, the reality is it鈥檚 an issue that only rises for relatively short period during the year, because of the elevation of the sun, and for a relatively short period each day.

鈥淏ut there are solutions to this - there are a number of possible solutions - and we鈥檙e just working currently with specialists on optimising the form of that solution. But it will get solved before it becomes a repeat issue next year.鈥�