It’s been the talk of the town since plans were first proposed back in 2015, but – almost a decade later – a shiny new skyscraper has officially been approved for London’s skyline. And it’s set to give The Shard a bit of a run for its money. The plans were approved by the City of London Corporation on Friday, December 13 (lucky for some, I suppose), after being delayed due to neighbourhood objections. But with amended and updated designs, the building has finally had the green light – and is set to be up and running by 2030.
Towering over London at 309.6 metres high (the maximum building height allowed in London), 1 Undershaft will exactly match The Shard in height, but will slightly one-up The Shard in other departments. The building will boast 74 storeys, a free-to-visit public garden on the 11th floor, a 20-metre public screen to display public information and events, a London Museum education centre, and Europe’s highest publicly accessible viewing gallery. Not bad, hey?
Designed by Eric Parry Architects, 1 Undershaft will sit snugly between The Gherkin and The Cheesegrater, and will be constructed once the building currently sat in its place (The St Helen’s Tower) is demolished. The 118-metre ex-Aviva building will supposedly take around a year to demolish.
Despite the design amendments since its initial proposal (including being made wider at the base and raising the entrances to retain more of St Helen’s Square); the new skyscraper is still being met with some resistance. Heathrow and London City Airports have aired some safety issues (pardon the pun), and Historic England are concerned that the plans will ‘seriously degrade the scale and character of the public realm around the site’.