Angel Central Raises the Iconic Wings

CBRE Global Investors has today announced the significant completion of a key milestone, the raising of the angel wing sculpture, as part of the center's £16m refurbishment plans at Angel.

The sculpture was incorporated into the progressive new design for the center back in 2018 after local residents expressed the importance of the wings as part of the local community.

A complex task followed as the twelve-tone, hand-rolled stainless steel sculpture, spanning fifteen meters, had to be raised by 3.5metres from its current position to sit atop a new footbridge. This new raised location forms part of the planned al fresco dining area that will be constructed as a focal point of the center's significant refurbishment plans.

The team at RED Construction, appointed for their expertise in central London developments, utilized a new innovative lifting process, the hydra capsule, to deliver this design. The twelve-tone structure, was slowly raised, with monitoring points in place, to ensure the correct load transfer in accordance with the construction safe workplace procedures.  The angel wings now stand taller and have become even more striking and iconic than ever before.

Commenting on the plans for Angel Central, Ciara Daffy, Asset Manager at CBRE Global Investors, said: “Our investment in the redevelopment of Angel Central has been a long-term plan for the destination. We wanted to provide the local community with a reimagined space and enhanced offer that includes more restaurants, outdoor seating and leisure – all building on the existing strong mix within the scheme such as O2 Academy, Vue Cinema and Frame.”

Graham Sturge, Managing Director of Farringdon based RED Construction added: “The raising of the wings was one of the key milestones for this extensive refurbishment project at Angel Central. Our expert team onsite worked together to safely maneuver this iconic sculpture to its newly raised position. We had to work within a limited space but the innovative technique we used ensured we delivered this within our short time frame of only five days – this is an intricate phase of the project completed successfully.”  

The sculpture, designed by award-winning artist Wolfgang Buttress in 2003, was intended to symbolize life and movement, and has come to be a focal point of the area ever since – growing in popularity as an ‘Insta-hotspot’ in recent years.

This latest milestone comes as part of Angel Central’s overall £16m refurbishment which is due to be completed by the end of Autumn 2020. The masterplan will see the extension of the center's leisure, retail and restaurant space.

Angel Central reopened the majority of its retail stores on Monday 15th June in line with government guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic, adopting a new ‘Safety Central’ campaign which includes many stringent measures to ensure the wellbeing of all staff, employees and visitors to Angel Central.

-ENDS-

About CBRE Global Investor

CBRE Global Investors is a global real assets investment management firm with $108.1 billion in assets under management* as of March 31, 2020. The firm sponsors investment programs across the risk/return spectrum for investors worldwide.

CBRE Global Investors is an independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE). It harnesses the research, investment sourcing and other resources of the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2019 revenue) for the benefit of its investors. CBRE Group, Inc. has more than 100,000 employees (excluding affiliates) and serves real estate investors and occupiers through more than 530 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. For more information about CBRE Global Investors, please visit www.cbreglobalinvestors.com

*Assets under management (AUM) refers to the fair market value of real assets-related investments with respect to which CBRE Global Investors provides, on a global basis, oversight, investment management services and other advice and which generally consist of investments in real assets; equity in funds and joint ventures; securities portfolios; operating companies and real assets-related loans. This AUM is intended principally to reflect the extent of CBRE Global Investors’ presence in the global real assets market, and its calculation of AUM may differ from the calculations of other asset managers.

About RED Construction

RED Construction Ltd is a Farringdon based main contractor specializing in Central London projects within the £5m to £30m range. RED undertakes both new build and refurbishment projects and across the commercial, hotel, residential, retail and care sectors.

RED Construction is working with the following project team for the Angel Central Project:

Client – CBRE GI

Development Manager– Queensberry

Architect – Haskoll

Structural Engineer – AECOM

Services Engineer – AECOM

Cost Consultants – Henry Riley LLP

Employer – PEC Parkfield Ltd