Even more construction is planned for the Square Mile
The 284-metre high 55 Bishopsgate, the 74-storey 1 Undershaft (the joint tallest building in the UK), and the 31-storey 130 Fenchurch Street are all being built in the City over the next five years but there’s still room for more as two more towers have been given the green light. The City of London Corporation has granted permission for the 45-storey 63 St Mary’s Axe to be erected close to the Gherkin, with the site’s existing building being knocked down to make way.
The new skyscraper will contain over 85,000 sq ft of floor space, which will largely be taken up by mixed-use offices, with flexible commercial and leisure spaces on the lower levels. There will also be the publicly accessible Camomile Park on the lower floors, spreading across elevated walkways and retail units, with 76 new trees being planted in the 1500 sqm of new public open space. As well as the greenery, the site will also “reveal and celebrate” a surviving section of London Wall, which was built by the Romans.
Alongside 63 St Mary’s Axe, the City of London Corporation has also given the go-ahead for the construction for a 32-storey building at 85 Gracechurch Street, which also has its own piece of Roman history to showcase – a first-century Roman Forum-Basilica. According to the Corporation, both towers “have been designed to respect historic heritage views of the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral”, so it’ll be interesting to see how different the London skyline looks once these are all standing.
