30 June 2024

Conviction

 

On Tuesday the City of London Corporation marked the "bottoming out" of the Salisbury Square development. The name is an inversion of the traditional ‘topping out’ of a skyscraper and so describes completing the deepest point below ground of a scheme. The full details are contained in a press release​ shared on their websites by all of the parties that includes rather grandiloquent quotes. As with the foundation stone two years ago, a range of dignitaries were in attendance but no staff this time. That a body as old as the Corporation still goes for the ceremonial burying of a time capsule is unsurprising.

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Some of the quotes are, though. It’s not clear what the police mean by “the addition of new sites”, whilst overall completion is now said to be “towards the end of 2026.” A brief walk-by yesterday showed the highest point of the development currently is a tower of contractor cabins. I guess there’s no going back now.

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