When showing off a city as a possible place to invest in, you need a nice office space to educate the guests, and it helps to have something pretty to show them.
Such as a large scale model of the City of London, complete with computer displays that control which buildings light up and when.
Although not a big physically or in scale as the massive model of central London at the Building Centre, it is a lot more polished and points out in varying degrees of detail every building within the Square Mile.
Also, unlike the Building Center, it is not generally open to the public – although you can ask for a tour – it was open for the London Open House Weekend, and I erm, just remembered to upload the photos.
A chap from the model makers was giving talks to bystanders, and is probably the first person I have met to have said that he likes One New Change place, a building I loathe.
The model he helped build though, is very nice.
A few more photos in the gallery
This appears to be a model of the future.
Magnificent!
The cost must be substantial! Who commissioned this, and why?
About 15 years ago I went to visit a small art gallery in the ground floor of the Natwest bank headquarters on Lothbury, behind the bank of England. The main exhibit was a model of London, like this one, except it covered the entire of central london. It was maybe 20 metres long. I lived in a small house in the Isle of Dogs at the time, and the model was so huge and detailed that I could point out my individual house to my friends. I wonder where that model is now…