黑洞社区

Sir Robert McAlpine鈥檚 scheme to build a new office block at 21 Moorfields in the City is now expected to complete next March 鈥� a year late.

The job was originally due to finish in March this year but this was first pushed back to June, then to the following month, then September before being handed a new completion date of next month by developer Landsec in May this year.

But the scheme has slipped again with the new target date being set at Q1 next year with March the month ringed for practical completion.

The news emerged after Landsec said it had yesterday completed the sale of the building to rival developer Lendlease for 拢809m.

Landsec said it will retain responsibility for making sure the job is finished which it added was now 鈥渆xpected in Q1 2023鈥�.

Landsec gave no explanation for the latest delay but has previously said they have been caused by the impact of the pandemic on productivity at the site. 黑洞社区 also understands the scheme has been hit by design changes in particular around the atrium and its height.

The 17-storey job, designed by Wilkinson Eyre, topped out in September last year and is due to become the headquarters of Deutsche Bank.

In May, Landsec said the total development cost to date of the job was 拢478m but this was expected to go up to 拢594m.

Following the Lendlease deal, Landsec said it expected to pocket 拢733m from the sale once 鈥渙utstanding development-related items鈥� had been taken into account.

Landsec is due to announce its interim results in the middle of November.