IF anyone was ever under the impression that the £350 million financial district project on the St Helier Waterfront was as good as a done deal it is now abundantly clear that they were very well wide of the mark.

The court case involving Harcourt, the scheme’s preferred developers, now unfolding in Dublin is casting a worrying shadow over the whole plan. A further shadow is being cast by legal actions involving Harcourt which are to come to court in Las Vegas.

And here in Jersey serious questions are being asked about the basic practicalities of the proposed development. The public inquiry into what would be called the Esplanade Quarter if it were ultimately built has highlighted concerns which simply cannot be ignored.

It has been recognised for some time that traffic problems would inevitably be a feature of the first phase of the quarter’s construction, but the inquiry has heard that the financial district could mean that an extra 700 cars would join the morning rush hour and that 500 could be added to the evening queues.
There is also real concern that gridlock would seriously hamper emergency vehicles and choke access routes to St Helier Harbour for freight and passengers.

Meanwhile, as the significance of these potential problems is assessed, an entirely new set of questions has been posed as a result of the present global financial crisis. These boil down to two very serious issues – will there still be demand from financial services institutions for the massive amount of new office space that would be at the core of the new quarter and how easy would it be to raise any necessary finance?

These are by no means an easy matters to resolve with so much uncertainty surrounding the finance industry abroad and at home. A prolonged downturn could see organisations retrenching and economising to such an extent that thoughts of moving to new premises would be put to one side.

It is, on the other hand, also possible that a brief downturn in business which left the Island largely unscathed would leave demand for new purpose-built office accommodation as vibrant as it was before the sub-prime scandal and the credit crunch turned the economic landscape upside down.

At present, we are in a poor position to call this one way or the other.