Chiswick Park, Cork Street, the Leadenhall Building – architect Lord Rogers is still all go at 80. He talks to EG about property, politics and Prince Charles.
“Richard. Are you going to take those braces off? At least for the photos? Please make sure you do.” Baron Rogers of Riverside has been well and truly told. Sitting out by the Thames on one of the last really hot days of summer – his suitably holiday-esque outfit has attracted a spot of negative attention from his wife.
“Aha! Hel-lo Ruthie,” he beams as she pops her head out of one of the French doors of the River Café restaurant she co-founded and owns. After a brief exchange over the offending item of clothing, Rogers is still making his case as Ruth heads back inside: “But I really like my braces,” he calls out after her. When that doesn’t garner a response he shouts again – this time considerably louder: “If I take them off my trousers will fall down…” She laughs. He has won. Success.
He might be 80 years old, but the chairman of architecture practice Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners is clearly not done with sparring when sparring is required just yet – whether it’s over a pair of braces or Prince Charles’ “amazingly non-democratic” approach to UK development.
In the month that Blackstone kicks off a speculative start on the final phase of the 33-acre Rogers-designed Chiswick Park project, the Labour peer talks property and politics.
Royal intervention
First up, that royal issue. Last month the best known row in architecture reared its head once again when Rogers claimed publicly that some developers run schemes past Prince Charles before committing to any major construction work to avoid huge financial losses.
The architect has lost two major projects – Paternoster Square and Chelsea Barracks – following interventions by the Prince of Wales and has said that a number of firms now first check there will be no royal objection to avoid similar, and costly, problems later on.
“What I said was that Prince Charles discusses projects when asked,” he says. “That is different to saying he ‘vetos’ plans, as has been reported since. But it makes sense. Developers are in the game to minimise risk. If there is a chance of a risk like an intervention there are a lot who will run projects – even a list of architects – past him. I would say nine out of 10 developers in the UK show him plans.”
Whether or not this is hard fact or conjecture is difficult to establish. While rumours of such checks are not unheard of – Rob Tincknell, managing director of Treasury Holdings UK, confirmed plans for Battersea Power Station had been run by the prince at the 2009 British Property Federation annual conference – evidence of the extent to which it is done remains largely anecdotal.
For Rogers it is all part of a wider argument on democratic rule: “Prince Charles has said he does not debate. Well, if you don’t debate then you should not state.”
Ensure market demand
With that out of the way, Rogers is keen to voice some other thoughts on commercial property – namely how London could have been very different had it not been for crucial development projects spanning the past 35 years. “When we started designing the Lloyd’s Building back in the 1970s, everyone was talking about all the big London firms moving to Frankfurt. That couldn’t be further from where we are now. The city is on an upward spiral and that is a lot to do with the property sector.”
But he warns that developers must “ensure market demand”. A staunch supporter of tall buildings – no surprise there as the architect behind the Leadenhall Building and Tower 3 of the World Trade Center site among others – he deflects attention away from the design side of the development process when asked about potential issues associated with iconic skyscrapers. Lettings problems at the Shard, for example? And challenges getting some tall towers such as the Pinnacle more than a few metres off the ground: “We are still going through a difficult economic period and obviously we need to meet the needs of the market,” he says. “But architects can’t build without a client. We are not like painters or writers, poets or playwrights. We start from a site and so it is very disappointing if clients ask for buildings where there isn’t market demand.”
One project he has no such concerns over is Chiswick Park, the commercial scheme he began a decade ago that is nearing completion. Despite the bold sell required – coaxing occupiers five miles out of the West End to the west London fringes – so far uptake looks good. Eighteen months ago, Blackstone let the entire 220,000 sq ft Building 6 at the park to oil services firm Aker, helping to boost annual income by 50% to £48.6m. The draw of £65 per sq ft compared to £135 in the West End, a lake and a volleyball court may have helped.
Earlier this year, the final building on the site, the 334,000 sq ft Building 7, was launched. It is expected to complete in 16 months and, once the entire 1.8m sq ft is occupied, rental income should double from £32m to £64m, giving the site a value of around £1bn.
Considering Blackstone paid £480m for the site in 2011, the investment will most likely end up being a punt worth taking. Especially as research by CBRE predicts that Chiswick will be one of London’s new golden postcodes within the next 15 years, with nearby Fulham and Hammersmith likely to undergo the same price rise within a decade and Earl’s Court within the next five years.
Rogers says that, in this case, the sense of place is bang on. He is firmly behind the predicted trend of major firms moving out of central London for lower rents and more space.
Mike Pegler, managing director of real estate at Blackstone, adds: “Lord Rogers is synonymous with creating workplaces which engender a sense of community.
“Chiswick Park is a classic manifestation of this ethos, and the key to its success is the environment that he had the vision to create.” The scheme is just one that has helped RSHP climb back from dire results for the year ending June 2010, which saw a 31% drop in turnover to £17m. For the year ended 30 June 2012, turnover had jumped to £24.8m.
On top of other recently announced schemes, such as the £300m residential Cork Street redevelopment in Mayfair, Rogers reveals that the practice has set its sights on new overseas locations: “We were so lucky that we went out east when we did, to China, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East. Now we have a big project in Mexico City and we are in talks to move into Brazil and Colombia. I am very excited to be 80 and opening up in new markets.”
Honoured at 80
He is not the only one who was excited by his most recent birthday in August. The Royal Academy of Arts saw it as a worthy enough milestone to warrant a three-month exhibition in his honour. Is that how he sees it? As an honour? Rogers thinks carefully before replying: “Yes. I suppose it is. But for me it is just an honour to be 80 and alive.”
He adds that the celebration of his landmark birthday has, at least, been a welcome change from the “awful” press he associates with the majority of his career milestones. From the controversial Millennium Dome to the abandoned Chelsea Barracks scheme, Rogers’ designs have not always been met with open arms. But one project in particular – even 40 years on – makes him visibly shudder.
“With the Pompidou we had six years of appalling – truly appalling – press. It nearly killed me. It was so dire I pretty much gave it all up. I was 37 and I just thought ‘I’m done’.”
But he wasn’t. “No. I wasn’t,” he laughs. “In a sense I think naivety is sometimes an advantage. If I had known how awful it was going to be I certainly wouldn’t have done it. And then where would I be?”
emily.wright@estatesgazette.com
Photo: Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock
