黑洞社区

Demolition work on the site of the Shard, the tower that would be western Europe鈥檚 tallest, is already six weeks behind schedule, it has emerged.

Work on the building is delayed while its developer, Sellar Property Group, struggles to convince its new Kuwaiti backers that the cost of the 310m building won鈥檛 spiral out of control.

A project source said: 鈥淎 month ago we were raring to go. We were told it鈥檇 be three days, then a week. Now it鈥檚 six weeks and still the button hasn鈥檛 been pressed.

鈥淭he demolition contractor [Keltbray] has been holding its team together for as long as it can but it is at the point where it will have to start sending the team to other jobs.鈥�

Keltbray declined to comment other than to say that it was still working on the scheme.

It has also emerged that executives at Mace, the scheme鈥檚 construction manager, has been trying to convince Sellar that it can deliver the project within its provisional 拢350m budget. It is believed that Mace, which avoids taking on fixed-price contracts, is prepared to offer a fixed-price deal to retain its place.

Mace鈥檚 position as construction manager on the scheme is understood to be in doubt. The source said: 鈥淭he new backers are not happy about the risk of construction management.鈥�

Last week it emerged that Laing O鈥橰ourke, which had been bidding to take on some of the Shard鈥檚 superstructure work, was in discussions with Sellar over a possible fixed-price deal for the whole project. The contractor has now moved staff into the project鈥檚 site offices at London Bridge.

A spokesperson for Laing O鈥橰ourke said it was 鈥渋n discussions鈥� with Sellar. It is understood that the contractor has not yet been appointed to do anything on the scheme.