KIA launches lawsuit against Axa IM Alts over ‘right to light’
Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund has launched a lawsuit against Axa IM Alts, the developer of a new 36-storey skyscraper in the City of London, arguing it will significantly block natural light to its neighbouring property, the award-winning Willis Building.
The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) owns the freehold of the Willis Building, which was designed by architects Foster + Partners and completed in 2008 and now is the global headquarters of insurance firm Willis Towers Watson.
The legal challenge brought by KIA regards a new office tower being built at 50 Fenchurch Street, just around the corner from the Willis Building. Axa IM Alts received the green light from the authorities back in 2020. The City of London Corporation’s planning report at the time said the project met the required standards and all environmental factors, including potential loss of sunlight, had been assessed.
In the court filing, first made public by the Financial Times, KIA claims the new building would “materially reduce the light enjoyed by the Willis Building” through some of the windows, “so as to amount to substantial interference with the ordinary enjoyment of the Willis Building and constitute a nuisance”.
Construction groundwork at 50 Fenchurch Street is already complete, with main building work set to begin this summer and wrap up by 2028. The tower, which is set to be one of the most sustainable office buildings in the UK, will have over 60,000 sq m of office space and extensive indoor and outdoor gardens.
Axa IM Alts, which owns the long lease to the asset, has so far declined to comment, saying: “We believe these claims are without merit, but as a policy we do not comment on potential or ongoing legal proceedings and therefore have nothing further to say.”
In the last few years the Willis Building has been overshadowed by taller towers like the Cheesegrater, Walkie Talkie, and 22 Bishopsgate — which is currently the tallest building in the area and which was also developed and is owned by Axa IM.
22 Bishopsgate was subject to a similar claim in 2016: at the time the City of London used the powers granted by section 237 of the Planning Act to intervene “in the public interest”, allowing the project to go ahead while providing compensation to the claimant. KIA is seeking an injunction to prevent the development from being completed but it could also settle for damages.
