The U.S. investment bank is not only a powerful financial market player but also a most demanding neighbor, an example from London’s Farringdon district shows.
Goldman Sachs will move into new London headquarters next year, but the relations with the neighborhood in the vicinity of Plumtree Court seem rather tense already. The U.S. investment bank has listed a whole series of demands it wants its neighbors to fulfil, according to the «Financial News» (behind paywall).
No Balconies Please
The building opposite the main entrance to Goldman Sachs’ offices hasn’t even been built yet, but this isn’t stopping the U.S. bank in trying to influence the property developer. This is the list of what the bank is gunning for:
- The property developer ought to make sure that it doesn’t sign up bars and restaurants, as there are plenty of such establishments in the neighborhood already.
- Goldman Sachs disapproves of balconies designed to go up on the side facing its new headquarters, because the offices would be fully visible from those balconies.
- The bank also dislikes the constructions planned to house the ventilation for the building, because the steam will obfuscate the views and may be mistaken for a fire.
- Goldman Sachs is also concerned that members of staff will get endangered by heavy lorries driving to and from the building site during construction.
«Goldman Alley II»
The property developers has agreed to meet some of the demands presented by the bank. It will move access to the building site away from the main Goldman Sachs entrance for instance.
Goldman Sachs is trying to exert some sense of control over the neighborhood similar to what it enjoys elsewhere, or so it seems. In New York for instance the bank purchased properties in the immediate vicinity to its offices to ensure that only restaurants and businesses deemed acceptable could move in – hence the nickname of «Goldman Alley».
