Brookfield may seize Pinnacle site for unpaid bills

The builders working on plans for the tallest skyscraper in the City, the Pinnacle, could seize the site after launching a legal challenge to recover £16m in unpaid bills.

The High Court has ordered the owners of the 63-storey, £1bn Pinnacle tower development to pay Canadian-US construction group Brookfield Multiplex £16m, after they failed to defend the contractor's claim.

The Bishopsgate development is owned via three special vehicles, with the majority backer, a Saudi Arabian investment group, Sedco, and the developer Arab Investments. But Brookfield's efforts to be paid have been made more difficult as the companies it is pursuing are understood to be registered in the Caribbean. If the building group isn't paid within a fortnight, it will apply for the developer to be wound up, insiders told Reuters.

The Pinnacle was one of several planned London tower blocks built after developers tried to capitalise on an expected boom in demand for new City office space.