Major UK firms in New York strife

The original design for the Javits Center by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners

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Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, RMJM, and Foster + Partners have all had New York schemes put on hold, drastically cut back, or redesigned.

• Author: Richard Waite.

Following news that Grimshaw's original Fulton Street transport hub proposal had been scrapped (AJ Online 03.04.08), it has emerged that Rogers' high-profile $1.6 billion (£800 million) expansion of the Javits Convention Center has been significantly scaled back due to political wrangles.

The latest proposals for the project are 45,000m2 smaller than the original and are described as a 'modest renovation'. 

Meanwhile, it has also been confirmed that the practice's 185,000m2 Silvercup Studio complex on the Long Island City Waterfront is on hold. The $1 billion (£500 million) mixed-use development, which won approval in mid-2006, has stalled due to issues over protracted land sales and the delayed removal of power plants from the site.

Elsewhere in the city, the American credit crunch has also started taking its toll. RMJM has already seen its 19-storey 'Paranoid Tower' (AJ 30.11.06) mothballed.

RMJM chief executive Peter Morrison confirmed the recession was biting. He said: 'The perception [of a significant slowdown] is right. There's a feeling of "let's wait and watch for six months".

'One of ours has definitely been put on hold. I've heard the same happening to numerous others, especially large offices.'

Morrison warned the jitters in the US could soon be felt in the UK. He said: 'There has been a nervousness in America much longer than it was actually perceived – whereas in the UK we are just getting started on it.'

Meanwhile Foster + Partners has insisted its long-awaited tower in Lexington Avenue (AJ 06.02.06), immediately behind Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, has not hit the buffers despite so far failing to gain all-important 'zoning approval'.

According to the practice, delays have resulted from changes to the building's interior – originally intended as offices – which has now been redesigned as a hotel.

The original design for the Javits Convention Center by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners

Silvercup Studios by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners

The Paranoid Tower by RMJM

Drawing showing the Lexington Avenue tower by Foster and Partners to the left of the Seagram Building