City of London gives permission for tallest tower

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The City of London has approved plans for its new tallest skyscraper, a 74-storey office tower that will be tied with the Shard as western Europe’s tallest building.  

Plans for the tower, called 1 Undershaft — located next door to the Gherkin — were delayed in July after neighbours, including the chair of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, objected to the design and the loss of public open space.

Investor Aroland and development manager Stanhope have scaled back the size of the ground floor to preserve more of St Helen’s Square, at the base of the tower. 

Shravan Joshi, chair of the planning committee for the City of London Corporation — the local government of the UK’s financial district — said the project “speaks to the confidence that global investors have in the London real estate market and the UK economy more widely”. 

Many investors are currently wary of backing office developments. The post-pandemic rise in hybrid working has helped push office vacancy to a 20-year high in London. But some in the market believe the lack of new projects will mean a crunch in supply for top-quality, new-build workspace in the coming years.  

1 Undershaft, which is expected to be built by about 2030, will be 309.6 metres high, exactly matching the height of the Shard, on the opposite side of the river Thames, which has been the UK’s tallest skyscraper since 2012.

The building, designed by architect Eric Parry, was first approved by the City in 2016. Aroland last year asked the City to sign off plans to significantly expand the tower, introducing a stepped side-profile and adding a storey to its height. 

The design includes a public garden on the 11th floor, a top-level public gallery and a children’s education space on the upper floors operated in partnership with the London Museum. 

These plans fell foul of neighbours in the City’s eastern cluster of skyscrapers, in London’s insurance district. After a tense meeting in July, the planning committee kicked the plans back to the developers for further changes. 

CC Land, which owns the nearby “Cheese Grater” skyscraper and objected to the earlier designs for 1 Undershaft, said it was “supportive of [the] proposed changes which we believe will result in a much-improved public realm”. 

The decision to approve the tower came in spite of objections from Historic England, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and some neighbours over the loss of light and “harmful impact on the Tower of London”. 

Conservation groups also objected to the demolition of the existing 23-floor 1960s tower on the site, formerly home to insurance group Aviva. 

Aroland is backed by Singaporean businessman Kuok Khoon Hong, chief executive of food processing group Wilmar International, one of the world’s largest oil palm plantation owners.