Starchitects denied after Crystal Palace scheme stalls
by Katie Buckley | 03 Mar 2015
Plans for London's Crystal Palace have ground to a halt / ZhongRong Group
Bromley Council has terminated an exclusivity contract with Chinese investor the ZhongRong Group for the redevelopment of London’s Crystal Palace.
A contract, that was originally signed in 2013, expired last month, following ZhongRong’s failure to produce a £5m (€6.8m $7.6m) down-payment to extend the deal for another six months.
In March 2014 a shortlist of six architectural heavyweights were revealed to be vying for the Crystal Palace redevelopment, including Zaha Hadid, Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners and Grimshaw among others.
Plans for the project hit a wall back in June 2014, when discussions between Bromley Council and ZhongRong Group were severely delayed.
For the time being, it looks like plans to restore Crystal Palace into a leisure and cultural hub for London – offering hotel, sport and conference facilities – at a price tag of £500m (€686m, $768m), are well and truly on hold.
Originally constructed in 1851, Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire in 1936 and is in severe need of restoration and development. Bromley Council is still committed to spending £2.4m (US$3.7m, €3.3m) on improvement works in the park and has appointed Kinnear Landscape Architects to conduct a feasibility study.
Update
ZhongRong has released a statement insisting the developer is still interested in the project.
In a statement, ZhongRong said: “We are obviously disappointed that we are yet to reach agreement with the Bromley council about the Crystal Palace rebuild plan. In particular, at the expiry of 16 months’ exclusivity agreement, the extent of the demise and leasehold arrangement are still outstanding, which we found… critical and necessary for the whole development.
“We are open and keen to work with the Bromley council to sort out the critical issues, and also welcome other alternatives or proposals if no further consensus with the council [is achieved].”
22 Oct 2014
London’s Crystal Palace Sports Centre up for public consultation
26 Jun 2014
London redevelopment of iconic Crystal Palace stalled
03 Mar 2014
Zaha Hadid in contention to recreate London's Crystal Palace
Bromley Council has terminated an exclusivity contract with Chinese investor the ZhongRong Group for the redevelopment of London’s Crystal Palace. A contract, that was originally signed in 2013, expired last month, following ZhongRong’s failure to produce a £5m (€6.8m $7.6m) down-payment to extend the deal for another six months. In March 2014 a shortlist of six architectural heavyweights were revealed to be vying for the Crystal Palace redevelopment, including Zaha
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