Impact strength & one-engine time & better landing sites
Doesn't look like it fell from 1000ft? I didn't think so either, but the rarely-photographed bottom of the wreckage, visible when it was craned out of the pub, looked a lot less intact than the much-photographed top.
The terminal velocity of the machine with that drag is also a lot less than something "free-fall"ing. Even stationery blades would tend to make it shuttlecock skids down, presenting a relatively larger area to the air.
It's not clear how long one engine was still running. "A short time" in the report doesn't imply as much as 2.5 minutes, but the timing information available is poor.
As to better landing sites, SASless: there are the gardens of the Peoples' Palace only 600m east of the pub. After that, until the Heliport 3km further across the city center, there's only the river.