Buildings damage in New York estimated to be £7bn

Property

Property experts said yesterday that they estimated up to $10bn (£7bn) of damage has been caused to buildings by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.

More than 15 million square feet of office space was destroyed or damaged beyond repair and a further 11 million square feet requires substantial renovation, the real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle said.

One fifth of downtown Manhattan's office space is likely to be lost for at least a year, leading to fears of a property price boom that could force many firms out of the area.

The worst of the damage appears to be at an end as almost every building surrounding the World Trade Centre seems sound. Many buildings will have to have facades and collapsed floors rebuilt but none will have to come down, structural engineers said yesterday.

The entire World Trade Centre complex will be demolished once the debris from the twin towers is cleared but American Express's headquarters and two other nearby buildings have been declared safe.

The reassurance came amid fresh fears over the safety of a retaining wall which encased the foundations of the World Trace Centre's twin towers.

The wall, known as a "bathtub", rings the site with a 70ft-deep concrete and steel wall, holding back the potentially unstable landfill which surrounds it and tying the centre's foundations to the bedrock.

Engineers are already drawing up emergency plans to prevent water from the Hudson river pouring into the centre's vast seven-floor basement. They fear the floodwater will get into the subway system and fill train tunnels all over the city.

Commercial estate agents have pledged to try to avoid property prices soaring as firms scramble to find alternative office space.

The Real Estate Board, a trade group of architects, contractors, landlords, lawyers and estate agents, has asked brokers to waive their normal fees, up to 15 per cent of an annual lease. Landlords have also been asked to set rates for short-term rents below the levels of those on 11 September, the day of the attack.

* The US Ambassador in London, William S Farish, has written an open letter to thank the British people for 80,000 messages of condolences.

Mr Farish said the embassy staff had been "deeply touched" by the letters, e-mails and the tens of thousands of people who had visited Grosvenor Square to pay their respects.