The Ambitious London Skyscraper Trying to Defy Brexit Nerves
Twentytwo, a $1.3 billion project, was born around the time Britons voted to leave the European Union. Now it's setting out to fill 62 floors of office space. Here's how it's working out.
It was a tricky time for the commercial real estate business in London. Within days, Britons would be voting on whether to remain in the European Union or leave. The French insurance giant Axa SA was trying to figure out how the outcome would affect its investments across the Channel. Paris-based executives of Axa Investment Managers’ Real Assets unit held a series of conference calls with their London colleagues to plan for what to do in the event of a leave vote.
One executive on the line from London—Harry Badham, Axa’s head of U.K. real estate development—had a lot at stake. He was about to sign a construction contract that would launch Twentytwo, a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) project to build the tallest skyscraper in the City of London. Unlike his colleagues, however, Badham was relaxed about the outcome. He was going to be out of town the day after the June 23, 2016, vote, having booked a trip in the expectation that remain would win. “When I told them I was planning to go fishing that day,” he says, “they thought I was joking.”