The London Eye

It seems like yesterday that The London Eye was under construction on the banks of the River Thames. More than ten years have passed since the original British Airways London Eye opened to the public as the largest observation wheel in the world. Since it's construction the wheel has become a major landmark and tourist attraction with more than 35 million people having ridden the wheel since it's opening.

The London Eye, which is now owned by Merlin Entertainment, incorporates 32 air conditioned capsules which take approximately 30 minutes to complete one revolution, giving up to 25 passengers in each pod views of London and beyond up to a distance of 45 miles on a clear day. Construction of the wheel was achieved by floating sections up the River Thames on barges and assembling it in situ on top of huge piles before the wheel was hoisted up in two phases.

Initially the project was a joint venture between British Airways and the Marks Barfield Family who were the lead architects on the project. Nowadays, with the British Airways association dropped, the wheel is owned by the Merlin Entertainments after it's takeover of The Tussauds Group who took ownership of the wheel in 2006. This video demonstrates some of the construction of a landmark which has become synonymous with the London skyline in it's tenth year of operation.

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Top 6 Investment Banks in London and New York

Here is a list of the 6 largest financial services companies with investment banking operations headquartered in London and New York by market capitalisation.

1. HSBC, London - $173.5bn / £111.325bn

2. JP Morgan Chase - New York City - $147.27bn / £94.5bn

3. Citigroup, New York City - $108.65bn / $69.7bn

4. Goldman Sachs, New York City - $76.434bn / £49.044bn

5. Barclays, London - $59.6bn / £38.23bn

6. Morgan Stanley, New York City - $36.21bn / £23.23bn

Top Architectural Practices: Kohn Pedersen Fox

I am starting a small series of posts on architectural practices that are responsible for the wonderful design of the built environment around us in London and New York with the same format as all my other blog posts , simple, informative and bitesize, starting with New York based architects Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF).

There are not many large scale projects around the world that have not had KPF at least run for the design commission, needless to say the New York headquartered firm are one the best known architects within the arena of large office projects and renovation. The firm was started in July 1976 and is a great example of a business which has grown from the seed of doing the first project well and receiving commissions of the back of that first 'good job done well'. Shortly after A Eugene Kohn, William Pedersen and Sheldon Fox founded the company, the American Broadcasting Corporation chose the partners to redevelop and old armoury building in Manhattan to house offices and a TV studio which led to 11 further commissions in the years following. The expansion to a global service offering was inevitable when New York based investment bank Goldman Sachs had a requirement for it's European headquarters in London which coincided with the time that London's Canary Wharf started to commission large scale office projects.

Nowadays, KPF's portfolio of properties spans the globe in more than 35 countries and London and New York form a very small part of the arena in which the firm operates. Perhaps the best known project in New York is the Museum of Modern Art and in London there are two projects which stand out that are currently under construction - the Bishopsgate Tower which is just appearing at street level and Heron Tower which is closer to completion.

London's Heron Tower courted controversy in 2009 when five project architects broke away from KPF to form their own outfit, PLP Architecture after the refusal of KPF to allow a buyout of their London operation. Despite clauses in contracts which would not normally allow employees of KPF to communicate with clients after their departure from the company, KPF and the new firm have hammered out a formal relationship. KPF are now faced with a seasoned competitor in London which has grown to more than 65 employees and has already been successful in bagging the second phase of Herons Development, Heron Plaza.

Photo of the day: 20 Fenchurch Street progress, London

Photo of the day: New York City from Brooklyn Bridge Park

Top 5 Interdealer Brokers in London and New York

Interdealer Brokers (IDBs) are the middlemen for investment

banks dealing in billions of dollars worth of transactions everyday in currency, bonds, derivatives, stocks and credit markets. As they compete against one another their offerings are expanding, from property derivatives to Islamic products. IDBs do not take positions but collect commission for expediting orders and distributing market data which is where they make their money.

Here is a list of the 5 largest interdealer brokers headquartered in London and New York, by market capitalization.

1. ICAP, London - £2.62bn / $4.07bn

2. Tullett Prebon, London - £801.61m / $1.244bn

3. BGC Partners, New York - £772m / $1.2bn

4. GFI Group, New York - £585.39m / $909m

5. Collins Stewart, London - £199.5m / $310m

The top 4 brokers above account for nearly 70% of market activity and Collins Stewart operation is part of a wider range of offerings which includes Wealth Management.

On June 25th 2008, ICAP supported the Red Arrows as they performed their first ever aerial display above New York City as part of a larger North American goodwill tour.