Brothers to build towers on Thames

09 April 2008 - The London Paper

Brothers to build towers on Thames

Go ahead for River Project THE billionaire Reuben brothers have been the go-ahead to build these gleaming towers opposite Tate Britain.

The development features a mix of apartments and an apart-hotel on the River Thames next to the trendy Riverbank Park Plaza hotel. The development, designed by Foster & Partners, will see 1960s office building Hampton House demolished and replaced with the three towers, the highest of which stands at 27 storeys.

The Reuben brothers, whose firm Aldersgate is behind the new development are among the ten richest families in Britain, with an estimated £3.5 billion fortune.

They are currently developing the 2 million square foot Merchant Square scheme at Paddington Basin. And last year they spent £40 million on tiny Oxford Airport to take advantage of the business-jets boom.

The pair hit headlines in 2006 following a dispute with London Mayor Ken Livingstone over an Olympics property development project. He was condemned after accusing the pair – who were born in India of Iraqi-Jewish parents – of stalling the project and suggesting that “they could always go back to Iran and see if they do better under the Ayatollahs”.