Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund sues new City skyscraper over right to light
The owner of new London skyscraper 50 Fenchurch Street has been sued by Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund over claims the tower will obstruct light.
Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, which owns the freehold to the Willis building on Lime Street, has brought the case through the High Court via its real investment vehicle, St Martins Property.
The legal claim states that 50 Fenchurch would “materially reduce the light enjoyed by the Willis Building” through some of the windows, “so as to amount to substantial interference with the ordinary enjoyment of the Willis Building and constitute a nuisance”, according to the Financial Times.
The claimant is reportedly seeking an injunction to prevent the development from being completed in a way that infringes on its ‘Right to Light’, or alternatively damages.
A defence to the claim has not yet been filed with the court.
The Willis building, headquarters of insurance broker Willis Towers Watson and a few minutes walk from 50 Fenchurch, was completed in 2008.
Its piece of real estate has slowly been eclipsed by a series of high-profile new skyscrapers like the “Cheesegrater” at 122 Leadenhall Street, the “Walkie-Talkie” at 20 Fenchurch Street.
The City of London is set to welcome a new spate of new skyscrapers in the next five years, with a particular ‘Eastern corridor’ along Gracechurch street and nearby Fenchurch street.
Occupying over an acre, 50 Fenchurch sits on the southern edge of the City’s tower cluster, providing panoramic river views over Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and the Southbank.
Nearby 22 Bishopsgate was subject to a similar claim in 2016, although the City of London intervened by providing compensation to the claimant.
The 36-story mixed-use office space at 50 Frenchurch is slated to be one of the lowest carbon workplace towers in the UK.
It is set to add 62,000 sqm of office space. It received planning permission five years ago and is currently in pre-construction, with plans to complete in 2028.
A spokesperson for AXA IM Alts said: ‘We believe these claims are without merit but as a policy we do not comment on potential or ongoing legal proceedings so have nothing further to say’.
City AM has reached out to Kuwait’s Investment Authority for comment.