Man dies after window falls from top floor of Foster flats

A COACH driver was killed yesterday after a window unit fell from the top floor of a Lord Foster-designed apartment complex in London.

The middle-aged man, who had been standing on the pavement close to where his vehicle was parked when the freak accident happened, was crushed by the weight of the metal framed window unit, which fell 250ft.

Photographs showed the man, a driver with Clarkes of London, a coach firm, lying beneath the debris and covered by a sheet, surrounded by wooden pallets, as emergency services gathered at the scene.

The window unit appeared to have come loose and fallen from one of the top floor penthouses at The Corniche, on London’s Albert Embankment, which is marketed as an “exclusive riverside address” of 252 apartments overlooking some of London’s most famous landmarks.

The recently completed apartments are almost fully occupied, though the unit from where the window fell was empty. Clarkes of London said in a statement: “This is a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the victim’s family. It is not appropriate for us to comment any further while the police investigate this tragedy and speak to the next of kin.”

Paddy Riley, 59, a scrap metal dealer, who was driving past, said he saw the victim laying on his back, and the pane of glass had taken “half his head away”.

“There was lots of blood everywhere and other stuff – it was very, very distressing,” he said. “There was a lot of labourers standing looking and pointing up at the window and down at him but no one was going near him.”