financial hubs development
5 Shanghai Tower 6 La Défense, Paris
FINDING THE PERFECT MODEL
Although it’s difficult to compare Canary Wharf with Paris’ La Défense district as the latter first emerged in the 1950s, Mulcahey believes that the London district is the international benchmark. He adds: “There has been a reaction against the model of La Défense, with its fairly crude planning. I think Canary Wharf showed the world a better way. It contains higher calibre buildings which are tailored towards the tenant while the quality of the public realm is in an entirely different league. “Canary Wharf is not purely an office centre, it’s
an office and retail centre. The retail element has been hugely successful and I think this surprised the developers.” According to Mulcahey, Gensler’s financial centres
mirror Canary Wharf’s mixture of office and retail, but try to take the concept even further. He adds: “We include other uses, such as residential, hotels, civic facilities and business schools. I think these com- ponents are now viewed as key in creating a financial centre that is a real piece of city – somewhere that has life in the evenings and weekends. This makes the centres more interesting to visit and certainly much better to work in. I think the staff vote with their feet – they like to be located where things are going on. “That is the critical change with the financial centre
model. They are now being seen as districts of a city that are critical in their own right rather than just large developments for a single use.” He believes that financial centres in the West are
more tailored to the occupants. “The biggest mistake is designing a financial centre as a heroic civil gesture with
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no regard for the occupants of the buildings. In general, established markets are much more conscious of the occupants of the buildings and the type of businesses they operate. Law firms, banks and insurance companies all require different types of buildings and facilities. This awareness will come to the emerging countries as the markets mature and the tenant profiles become clearer.” An issue in the Middle East is the speed of construction, as Mulcahey explains: “With the Middle East’s desire to build
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projects incredibly quickly, the danger is that the development becomes out of sync with the surrounding infrastructure. Canary Wharf has taken 25 years to build, while DIFC took six. To build DIFC in such a short space of time is an incredible achievement but it will take some time for the surrounding infrastructure to catch up and be connected.” He emphasises how public transport is traditionally an integral service for a financial centre. “Because of the concen-
trated nature of financial centres, and the density of people within them, all of the leading financial centres are heavily reliant on public transport. But there is still a desire in the Middle East to build centres that are car dependant, and that presents a huge number of challenges. However, the new financial centres in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere tend to be served by some form of integrated public transport. The opening of the Dubai Metro has drastically changed the city and reinforces DIFC’s position as a central place to do business.” As well as good transport infrastructure, destinations also require other facets in order to be viable financial centres. Mulcahey adds: “There are minimum requirements, such as a good telecommunications infrastructure. You also need a natural market – there either has to be sufficient domestic business or the opportunity to carry out international business. “Some places put incentives in place to attract international businesses. DIFC acts as a free trade zone as well as a
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financial centre, and operates under its own regulatory jurisdiction. There are controls on the type of business – domestic banks aren’t found there. By specifically targeting institutions that want to do offshore business, it makes it different from the typical business district which accommodates any company, local or international. By contrast, Al Sowwah in Abu Dhabi has no special jurisdiction – it’s perhaps more akin to a traditional business district.”
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/apr-may 2010
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