Berd on the wing
JACQUES Attali's Berd is on the wing again. The new European Bank for Recon- struction and Development (Banque Euro- pdene in its acronym) is to perch in London, but declined to be caged in Canary Wharf. Instead, M. Attali wanted to take the renewed Grand Building in Northumberland Avenue. He liked the name, and from his chosen office he could look Nelson in the eye. That deal fell through, and his next choice was to move the Berd to Poultry, and to take over the palatial headquarters which Lutyens built for the Midland Bank. (There he could look the Bank of England in the eye.) The trouble with a Grade I Lutyens building, though, is that it cannot be revamped to suit a new tenant. I am told that the Berd is flying westwards again, and is circling round Embankment Place, above the tracks at Charing Cross. There M. Attali would achieve his privately expressed wish — to establish himself between Trafalgar Square and Waterloo Station.
Previous page
