The City of London financial district has approved plans for a 73-floor skyscraper that will match in height Western Europe’s tallest tower a mile to the south, in a sign that city planners are still betting on the office market despite the current downturn.
The proposed 309.6-meter (1,015.75-foot) tower, which will be exactly the same height as London’s Shard, was given the go-ahead after a previously approved plan was revised “to better respond to post-pandemic office needs,” the City of London local authority said on Friday.
Officially called 1 Undershaft, the tower was initially granted approval at a slightly smaller height in 2016 but never started.
The proposed building, which investor Aroland has been trying to get off the ground for years, will require the demolition of an existing smaller tower and has attracted criticism from conservation groups.
Historic England said in a consultation response to City planners in February that the alterations had not altered its impact and said it would “seriously degrade” the public realm around it.
The tower, if built, would provide 154,156 square meters (around 1.66 million square feet) of office space, areas for children’s education on the 72nd and 73rd floors and a publicly accessible garden.
Credit: cnn.com
