Sun screen planned to stop tower’s ‘heat rays’

The half-finished 37-storey tower at 20 Fenchurch Street in the centre of the capital, dubbed the “Walkie Talkie” owing to its distinctive shape, is now being called the “Walkie Scorchie” because its shape acts like a parabolic mirror focussing heat from the sun onto buildings in the next street.

Angry business owners in Eastcheap say the £200m project has blistered paintwork, caused tiles to smash and singed fabric.

A motorist has also said the intense heat melted part of his Jaguar when he parked it nearby.

Developers Canary Wharf and Land Securities – who built the Trinity Leeds shopping centre – previously said they were working to prevent the problem from taking place, and said in a joint statement last night: “Following approval from the City of London, we will be erecting a temporary scaffold screen at street level on Eastcheap within the next 24 hours.

“This solution should minimise the impact on the local area over the next two-to-three weeks, after which time the phenomenon is expected to have disappeared.”

The developers said the problem was caused by the current elevation of the sun in the sky and they will work to “continue to evaluate longer-term solutions”.