AN ENORMOUS 74-storey city skyscraper that will be over 1,000ft tall and the exact same height as the Shard has been given the green light.
1 Undershaft is set to become Britain’s joint-tallest building once it’s constructed in the heart of London’s traditional financial district, the City.
Towering at 309.6 metres (1016ft), the building finally received the go ahead for construction almost a decade after plans for the site first emerged.
The new structure will replace the existing 118 metre tall St Helen’s tower on the site and bring more than 150,000 square metres of office space to the capital.
A large free-to-visit public space and children’s education area, operated in partnership with the London Museum, open 7 days a week will also be built as part of the plans.
Set to be on the uppermost floors, this space is set to become Europe’s highest publicly accessible viewing gallery.
The tower, designed by Eric Parry Architects on behalf of Singapore’s Aroland Holdings, will be sited in a cluster of skyscrapers close to the City’s eastern end.
Members of the public will also be able to access a podium garden 42 metres up, which features a glass floor, cafes, and shops.
Shravan Joshi, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s planning and transportation committee, said: “1 Undershaft is a truly remarkable building that will not only help to deliver on the demands for economic growth, through the high-quality office space it offers, but also contribute to the City’s growing cultural offer and tourist appeal.
“As another, much needed office development gets approved in the City of London, it speaks to the confidence that global investors have in the London real estate market and the UK economy more widely.
“I’m particularly pleased that we will be able to work with the London Museum to open the uppermost floors of 1 Undershaft to schoolchildren and local communities, a classroom in the sky”.
The tower was given the go-ahead by sixteen votes to seven, despite initial objections about the project from a church in the area.
St Helen’s, Bishopsgate, is the largest surviving parish church in the City of London and one of the very few to have survived both the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the Blitz.
The new tower will stand directly across the street and the church had raised fears during the initial planning phase about “noise during demolition, construction and operation” and also the “impact on the setting of the grade I-listed church”.
1 Undershaft will be built to the highest possible permitted height, with limits in place due to civil aviation rules.
This comes as the City Corporation progresses towards its target of delivering a minimum of 1.2 million square metres of new office space by 2040.
The new structure will provide nearly 13 per cent of the City’s identified office space requirement, responding to the City Plan 2040.
Eric Parry, founder of Eric Parry Architects said that “tall buildings can generate huge amounts of value in our cities.
1. Burj Khalifa, Dubai – 2,717ft
2. Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia – 2,227ft
3. Shanghai Tower, Shanghai – 2,073ft
4. Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower, Saudi Arabia – 1,972ft
5. Ping An International Finance Centre, Shenzhen – 1,966ft
6. Lotte World Tower, Seoul – 1,819ft
7. One World Trade Center, New York – 1,776ft
8. Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, Guangzhou – 1740ft
8. Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin – 1,740ft
10. China Zun, Beijing – 1,731ft
“1 Undershaft is a generous building with the aspirations to be a next generation classic of its kind, both for the public and occupants.”
Originally plans had the tower nicknamed “The Trellis” before these were changed in favour of the current design.
It’s likely to receive a new nickname at some point, either during or after construction, in reference to its design, much like many other skyscrapers in the area.
Well known structures nearby include 30 St Mary Axe, better known as “The Gherkin”, 20 Fenchurch Street, popularly called “The Walkie-Talkie”, and 122 Leadenhall Street, often referred to as “The Cheesegrater”.
