Bovis refuses to build Hadid’s Foundation HQ

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Bovis refuses to build Hadid’s Foundation HQ

Land Securities insists building will go ahead despite contractor’s ‘ridiculous’ tender price

Zaha Hadid’s headquarters building for the Architecture Foundation has been plunged into fresh crisis after contractor Bovis Lend Lease refused to build it.

The long-delayed landmark in Southwark, which was originally costed at £2.25 million but has since been redesigned and has doubled in budget, was due to be built by Bovis.

The contractor, which constructed the surrounding Bankside 123 project, is understood to have been unwilling to work on the scheme and put a “ridiculous” £8.4 million price tag on the 900sq m building. It has now been retendered and is set to be delivered through design-and-build.

Director at developer Land Securities Mike Hussey condemned Bovis’s high price and said the contractor “didn’t want to build” Hadid’s design.

Land Securities is now understood to have put a £5 million cap on the project, which was won by Hadid in competition in 2004.

Hussey claimed that Land Securities still intended to build the headquarters but was only prepared to make a financial gesture to increase funding “up to a point”, and not to the level quoted by Bovis.

“Bovis couldn’t come up with a reasonable figure, and put in a ridiculous quote. Basically they didn’t want to build it,” he said. “However, we intend to build it.”

He added that a preferred bidder was likely to be named within weeks. But a source close to the project expressed doubt as to whether it could be delivered to budget.

“I don’t think it can be built for £5 million,” he said. “The architects just couldn’t help themselves with this project. It’s an artistic statement that Land Securities is unwilling to fund.”

Architecture Foundation director Rowan Moore insisted a contractor who could build the headquarters for a reasonable price would be found, adding that Bovis’s tender was coloured by contractor fears over inflated material costs.

“It will be built to the vision outlined in the planning submission approved last year. There will be no changes to the materials specified in the original design,” he said.

Moore refused to confirm the project’s forecasted cost, but despite a likely rate of £5,500 per sq m, said: “It will be very much worth what it’s going to cost.”

Hadid’s ambitious projects at Glasgow transport museum and the London Olympics Aquatics Centre have both struggled to interest builders in the middle of a construction boom.

Fonte: BdOnline