Photo of the day: Freedom Tower from Hudson River

Photo of the day: Freedom Tower cladding progress

Photo of the day: Freedom Tower cladding progress

WTC Memorial Pool Construction Progress

Freedom Tower construction update - December 2010

The following information was last updated on December 3, 2010, courtesy of GTAman9759 on youtube

- Facade installation began mid-November at 20th story
- Tower steel is now above floor 50
- Concrete is now being installed above floor 42
- Multiple cranes on site for steel and concrete installation
- Both the south and north cores are now being erected as the structure rises
- Cocoon safety system now in place around upper perimeter, to rise with structure
- Utility installation and tie-ins
- Crews are coordinating substructure construction while maintaining PATH service

Architectural models - Freedom Tower

This short video by Fox News illustrates the role that model makers play in the planning and public relations for new projects, specifically here, the Freedom Tower in New York City.

HSBC Tower, 8 Canada Square, London

Statistics

• Constructed 1999-2002
• Height 200m (656ft)
• 45 floors
• 102,190sqm (1,100,000sqft)
• Architect Foster & Partners

Sir Norman Foster designed HSBC's previous global headquarters at 1 Queen's Street, Hong Kong, therefore it was only right that he was chosen to design a building that would pull together all of HSBC's scattered sites around the City of London to create an iconic global headquarters in London's Docklands. HSBC's environmental principles fitted in with Foster & Partners experience and passion for designing buildings that champion energy efficient systems; the building features recyclable furniture and equipment.

HSBC became carbon neutral in 2005 and in 2008 the skyscraper became the tallest building in Europe to feature solar panels and the largest installation of photovoltaic panels on a corporate office in London, which are fixed to withstand wind speeds of up to 140mph. The panels will generate about 1,550,000 kilowatt hours of green energy over the buildings lease which is enough to power 20 average size UK homes every year. Simon Martin, Head of Group Corporate Sustainability, said about the installation,"This installation shows innovation and demonstrates that renewable technologies of this scale can be delivered successfully. If every headquarter building around the world invested in solar panels, it would significantly increase the transition towards a low carbon economy and we hope to become a catalyst for this."

The tower has also been good to the balance sheet for HSBC. In April 2007 it became the first building in the UK to be sold for more than £1bn when it was sold to Metrovacesa before taking ownership in December 2008 and posting a £250m gain from the agreement. In December 2009 it was then sold to South Korea's National Pension Service for £772m. The bank will be paying rent of £46m a year for the next 17 years having freed up capital.

Bank of America Tower, New York City, Environmental Technology

Statistics

• Constructed 2004-2009
• Height to spire - 366m (1,200ft)
• 58 floors
• Floor Area - 2,100,000 sqft (195,000 sqm)
• 51 elevators
• Cook & Fox Architects, Adamson Associates Architects

What makes the Bank of America Tower at Bryant Park special in today's Kyoto conscious world, it's unique selling point if you will, is the fact that it is effectively a giant air filter. The air entering the building is purified and the air exhausted is even cleaner. That is on top of a host of other environmentally friendly features. The concrete used in the construction of the building is 55% cement and 45% slag, a by-product of blast furnaces. Temperature control in the tower is also environmentally friendly. Floor to ceiling insulating glass maximises natural light as well as containing heat and the tower also reuses rainwater. The building also incorporates an old technology, ice phase transition, which produces and stores ice to help cool the building in peak

periods. There is also a 4.6 mega watt onsite cogeneration plantwhich reduces the significant electrical transmission losses that are typical of central power production plants. The tower also features an underfloor air system which provides the occupants with the ability to control the temperature in their own space via multiple air column units which also improves air ventilation effectiveness. All of these features are evidence that New York is still at the forefront of world skyscraper technology with one of the most environmentally friendly towers in the world.

Tide turning for Freedom Tower, NYC

A different type of Subway helping people out in New York City is the sandwich chain Subway who have opened an outlet in a pod which sits on hydraulic legs and will ascend with the tower to feed ironworkers on site. Opening the shop, which serves up the same menu as a regular Subway is a smart move by project managers keen to save man hours and workers walking off site to get their lunch.

Freedom Tower is the first of the four towers to rise on the site of the destroyed twin towers. The tower itself is beginning to make an appearance on the skyline too at 116 metres (380 ft) and 34 storeys high. Delivery of the tower, which will eventually be 541 metres (1,776ft) to the tip of the spire and 108 floors high, is scheduled for April 2013. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is developing the tower is courting interest from potential tenants too. The Authority and media giant Conde Nast, recently reached tenantive terms on a deal which could see the publisher, which currently calls Times Square home, taking upto 1 million sqft of space in the building and become it's largest tenant. At present the only tenant to sign terms is the Chinese Real Estate firm Beijing Vantone Industrial Company which has signed a lease for about 190,000ft on the 64th and 69th floors.

So it all seems to be coming together nicely at 1 World Trade Centre. It hasn't, though, been plain sailing all the way. The project has been heavily criticised in the past for being more about

symbolism than need with real estate executives pointing out the obvious risks of building so much office space on a speculative basis and after a redesign of the tower, corporate tenants and government workers declared they had no desire to move into the tower. This was tossed off the back of some killer criticism by journalists damning the fortified base of the tower as a grotesque attempt to disguise it's underlying paranoia and also dubbing the building "the Fear Tower".

However, when the opportunity was there to buy into a stake of the tower, there was no shortage of interest. The Durst Organization beat off competition from three other developers to buy a minority stake in the project which will see the company oversee leasing of the building as an equity partner. The tide of opinion could be changing on the Freedom Tower. Durst is the hinge - at one time it was Douglas Durst, chairman of the Durst Organisation that opposed both the original WTC and the one he'll be investing in.