Soon, London is going to welcome another interesting object to the city’s skyline.  If you’re familiar with 30 St Mary Axe, you know what I’m talking about.  Now, developer Land Securities will get the opportunity to construct a new, 37-story, Rafael Viñoly-designed building that commentators affectionately call the "Walkie-Talkie" Tower.  City councillors were split on whether to approve the scheme, but ultimately it received a 12-8 vote for approval.  Some councillors were worried about its location and the asymmetrical impact to London’s skyline.  Another councillor said the building design is "striking, remarkable and [an] exciting standalone building."  To be located at 20 Fenchurch Street, Land Securities thinks the building is necessary to meet the market’s demand for efficient large floor plates. 

Like most towers being designed these days, this one will also include sustainable design.  One notable green feature is the roof garden and park.  The sky garden will be open to the public on the weekends, making it the highest accessible park in London.  Also, there will be a cafe and restaurant on the park level.  Via BD Online. 

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Telus Tower is going to be one of the first new towers constructed in Toronto in a long time.  It could also be one of the most technologically advanced towers in Canada.  Using the LEED certification system as a guideline for design, the Telus Tower will pursue Silver level certification.  It’s expected to cost about $250 M to build, with about 30 stories comprising 780,000 sf of office space.  Telus will occupy about 60% of the building when it is completed by the beginning of 2009. 

In addition to the LEED elements, Telus Tower is going to be a showcase of "Future Friendly™" Technology in both building automation systems and tenant environments.  This will include floor-to-ceiling windows, raised floors for underfloor distribution of hot/cool air, and state-of-the-art communications cabling and electrical power. 

Good Links:
++Telus Announces New Office Development in Toronto [Telus]
++New Towers Paint the Town Green [thestar.com]
++Toronto Downtown Towers Going Green [treehugger]

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Eleven Times Square is planned to be one of the next green buildings in NYC at 8th Avenue and 42nd Street.  The 1.1 million sf speculative office space, with two floors of retail, will be finished in 2009.  Also, if everything goes as planned, 11 Times Square will be certified to the LEED Silver level by the USGBC.  While it’s still early, apparently the 40-story tower is two months ahead of schedule (but there’s still 2 more years to get behind schedule).  The tower was designed by FXFOWLE Architects, and specific details of green elements are kind of hard to come by.  We’ll keep an eye on it and pass on more details as the specifics come available. 

Good Links:
++Eleven Times Square [Official Website]
++11 Times Square Starts Spec Construction [Globe St.]

::"S2" is short for "Skyscraper Sunday," a weekly article on green skyscrapers posted every Sunday::

With the weird looking skyscrapers, there’s a business problem of having expensive, unusable space.  Often, the most pragmatic, profitable shape is the plain old rectangle.  So for the sake of staying grounded in reality, today I’m going back to the boxy, modern-style skyscraper.  Above is Arrowhead, a 525,000 sf office building under construction in South Quay, London (UK) by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.  The 26-story building is expecting an "excellent" rating under BREEAM, the environmental building assessment tool used in the UK.  Among other green features, Arrowhead will have a green roof on the top and a mid-level rooftop terrace.  The building also has a glass climate wall with external metal shading to retain heat gain in the winter and permit cooling in the summer. 

Good Links:
++Arrowhead, London, United Kingdom [SOM]
++SOM Gets Green Light for Office Development in Millennium Quarter [WAN]

::"S2" is short for "Skyscraper Sunday," a weekly article on green skyscrapers posted every Sunday::

It looks like the joint-venture partnership of AvStar Seattle LLC, which is the combo of Starwood Capital Group Global LLC (SCGG) and Avalon Holdings, broke ground on the world’s first 1 Hotel & Residences in Seattle.  The 23-story, mixed-use development will be at Second Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle.  The $200 M development, which is slated for occupancy in the winter 2008, includes retail, residential, and hotel components with amenities such as a 40,000 sf athletic club, organic specialty restaurant and grocer, and 8,000 sf spa.  There will be 110 "City Suites" and 98 condominiums, of which, the City Suites have already been oversubscribed and pre-reserved.  Also, the LEED-certified hotel will receive the 5-star management services of SCGG.  We know the building was designed by Sienna Architecture, and there are some good renderings at the links below, but specific details on green amenities are still a little tough to come by.  We’ll keep monitoring the roll out of the 1 green hotel brand. 

Good Links:
++1 Hotel & Residences [Official Website]
++1 Hotel & Residences [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
++Avalon, Starwood Capital Break Ground on First 1 Hotel & Residences [GLN]
++Starwood Announces New Green Hotel: 1 Hotel & Residences [JG]