According to Constructionweeklyonline, as reported Dynamic Architecture Group, London has pipped Dubai as location of the world's first rotating tower, with construction expected to begin this year. The company also reported, that they would announce the start of construction on the first building in motion in London in due time, most probably within this year. As reported Reuters in 2008, Dynamic Architecture Group planned to build so-called dynamic towers -- prefabricated sun - and wind-powered skyscrapers that will keep changing shape as each floor rotates around a central axis -- in Moscow and Dubai by the end of 2010, but this two projects are still on papers only. A 70-floor building has received planning approval for Moscow, and an 80-floor building in Dubai is awaiting approval. Instead of just one revolving floor, like other buildings around the world, every floor in Fisher's towers will rotate. Russian real estate developer Mirax Group is behind the Moscow tower, while the planned Dubai building is backed by Fisher's Rotating Tower Technology Company. The towers are expected to generate enough electricity for themselves and other nearby buildings from solar panels and wind turbines fitted horizontally between each floor. People who own an entire floor will be able to simply speak to control the rotation, with speeds varying from an hour to three hours for each full rotation. The building, designed by architect David Fisher, was due to produce 80 pre-fabricated floors that would spin independently of each other and take between one and three hours to make a complete rotation. The tower was due to include 20 floors of retail, 15 for a hotel and 45 floors of residential apartments.

Work on the world's largest solar bridge formally begins, as the first of more than 4.400 solar panels are installed above the new "Blackfriars" station platform, reported The Guardian. When complete in 2012, the "Victorian" bridge will play host to some 6 thousand square meters of photovoltaic (PV) panels, making it London's largest solar array. The historic London site is undergoing a multi-million pound refit, which includes extending the platform along "Blackfriars Bridge", a structure built in 1886. "Solarcentury", the UK company, managing the installation, expects the panels to generate around 900,000kWh of electricity a year, providing half of the station's energy and reducing annual CO2 emissions by an estimated 511 tons. "Station buildings and bridges are fixed parts of our urban landscape and it is great to see that this one will be generating renewable energy every day into the future. For people to see that solar power is working is a vital step towards a clean energy future," said "Solarcentury" chief executive Derry Newman in a statement. Other energy saving measures, such as rain harvesting systems and sun pipes for natural lighting, are also being fitted at "Blackfriars", as part of Network Rail's plans to reduce carbon emissions by 25 percent per passenger kilometer by 2020. One other solar bridge is known to exist, "The Kurilpa" footbridge in Brisbane, Australia, although 16 thousand solar panels were laid on the top of a train tunnel in Belgium earlier this year.

Google has thrown its weight behind Tech City, East London's fast-growing hub for Internet companies, by signing a lease for a seven-floor building that will serve as a launch-pad for new start-ups and developers, reported Reuters. The centre, due to open in 2012, will house advisers from Google and other organizations that support technology entrepreneurs. It will be located close to Old Street round about, dubbed "Silicon Round about", in an area of London that has already attracted hundreds of new Internet start-ups. The move supports British Prime Minister David Cameron's ambition, announced in November 2010, for London's East End to become a technology centre to rival California's Silicon Valley. The plan was backed by a host of technology companies, including Google, Vodafone, Facebook and Intel. Google, which will retain its central London offices, said the centre would be the first initiative of its kind for the company anywhere in the world. According to Bloomberg, Google will take on more than 2.323 square meters of office space near Old Street until at least 2022. The company will pay about US$ 7.8 million over 10 years in rent, which exclude costs for refurbishment, according to an online brochure for the site. "Finding a suitable building is the first major step, and we hope to announce more details about the organizations we'll work with and how they will use the space in the coming months," said David Singleton, Google UK's engineering director. "East London is already home to hundreds of innovative British start-ups, and has huge potential for economic growth and new jobs over the coming years", he added.

With exactly a year to go until the start of London's third summer Games, the Olympic Park in working class Stratford, one of Britain's most ambitious and costly urban renewal projects, now boasts all its main structures that will stage next year's sporting drama, reported news agency reuters.com. The Aquatics Center, which officially opened its doors on July 27, joins the towering Olympic Stadium, the sleek-looking Velodrome, the multi-use handball arena and the enormous International Broadcast Center (IBC) which have changed the skyline of London's eastern approaches. Basketball's gleaming white 12,000-seat rectangular venue is also ready for use, although despite its imposing size it will be dismantled after the Games. More than 160,000 tons of soil, much of it contaminated, were dug out to build the Aquatics Center - an operation that uncovered several Iron Age skeletons as well an assortment of rusting relics from the area's former uses. Even a two-month delay in completing the US$ 1.67 billion Aquatics Center, it seems, has its advantages. The iconic Aquatics Center, which houses two 50 meters pools and a diving pool and can seat 17,500 spectators during the Games, came in over budget and also missed its completion date because of complications over its roof design and heating systems. The cosmetics are still to be applied, such as the greening of the park with thousands of trees and plants, temporary venues constructed, and the athletes Village to be fitted out, but London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe said the handover of the sixth main building project on the Park with a year still remaining was a cause for pride.

As reported by london2012.com, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has announced the completion of its fifth venue, the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), on the 2012 London Olympic Park. The new centre will form part of the Main Media Complex, a 24-hour media hub which also includes the Main Press Centre (MPC). The complex will cater for over 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and print journalists, bringing the Games to an estimated four billion people across the world. The complex will also have a catering village and a multi-storey car park connects the two main venues together via a structure which includes a conference room for up to 700 people. The broadcasting centre has been designed by Allies and Morrison to be as flexible as possible to accommodate a range of potential tenants and uses after the games. The steel frame of the IBC is 275 meters long, 104 meters wide, 21 meters tall and big enough to house five jumbo jets. After the Games, the IBC has been designed to accommodate a range of potential tenants with hopes that major technology companies will move in.