| Kippreport.com

Qatari Diar Chelsea Barracks saga continues

June 19, 2011 12:30 by Eva Fernandes

So two years on, it finally seems like the Qatari Diar plans for the redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks will get the go-ahead. Yay for long winded development plans that royals chose to meddle with that eventually get approved! Remember the Chelsea Barracks debacle that remerged last summer when following the criticism from Prince Charles over the plans to build 552 flats in 17 blocks at the Chelsea Barracks site to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, on the grounds that the new modernistic design was at odds with the current design, Qatari Diar pulled out of the deal. CPC lawyers claimed they would seek costs for the breach of contract at a future hearing but the two companies reached a settlement over the failed $1.5 billion scheme.

The entire affair was stamped with hierarchical royal stuffy-ness, with architects labeling Prince Charles as nothing other than ‘a meddling prince.’ Of course, now that plans have been designed by architects Michael Squire and Dixon Jones with a more traditional design in keeping with the current surroundings, chances that the $4.8 billion redevelopment get approved are royally higher.

Tags: $1.5 billion London apartment dispute, Chelsea barracks, chelsea barracks Qatari diar, Qatari Diar CPC Group, Qatari Diar UK developer dispute