Mayor approves City of London’s tallest tower

Plans for the building include a restaurant and bar, retail space and a public viewing gallery

Plans for the tallest tower in the City of London have been given the go ahead.

The 62-storey skyscraper will be the highest building in London's financial district, know as the Square Mile.

The 295m-high tower, at 22 Bishopsgate, will be built on the site of The Pinnacle - a seven-storey building that has been abandoned for four years following the financial crash.

The Shard still remains the tallest building in the capital at 306 metres (1004ft).

The new skyscraper will accommodate 12,000 workers in 100 businesses, City Hall said.

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Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "After lying abandoned for four years, 22 Bishopsgate will now get off the ground, providing much-needed office space for thousands of city workers and a positive addition to the world-class architecture of the capital's skyline."

Developer Stuart Lipton said the mayor had recognised it as a "major contribution" to the City's vitality and a "distinguished and interesting building that includes a number of new innovations designed to put the health and wellness of people first".

The tower at 22 Bishopsgate is due to be completed in 2019.

But it could soon be dwarfed by plans unveiled on Monday for a new 310m-high skyscraper at One Undershaft, for which planning applications will be submitted early in 2016.

'Harmful'

Architect Barbara Weiss, who campaigns to protect the London skyline from "bad towers in the wrong places", said 22 Bishopsgate "could harm historic buildings in the City".

"The fine urban grain of the city fabric is being obliterated by large buildings with very large footprints and 22 Bishopsgate is a case in point - it's just too big," she said.

"The more steel and glass that goes up, the less you feel like you're in the London you know and love as a unique place."