Tower to be tallest in City of London, 1 Lower shaft held up by planning queue

The decision to approve a skyscraper set to become the tallest in the city – towering above the Walkie Talkie and Cheese Grater buildings and as tall as London Bridge’s Shard – has been delayed by the Square Mile’s planning committee despite planning officials recommending its construction.

The Eric Parry-designed 1 Undershaft Building, which will rise to 309.6 metres, provide 1.7 million square feet of flexible office space and create an estimated 9,500 new jobs, is expected to be given the green light for construction of the City cluster’s flagship insurance centre following an eight-year planning process.

However, the City of London Planning Applications Subcommittee decided to defer its decision, as the current design encroached too much on the adjacent St Helens Square communal space.

The motion for ‘minor adjustments regarding the public space on the ground floor’ was adopted with nine votes in favour and six against, with two abstentions.

Most of the objections raised during the committee hearing concerned the way the design would affect the square, where people gather for lunch, the committee heard.

The decision comes despite planning officers’ report, published ahead of the committee meeting, recommending approval for the 74-storey building. The subcommittee is expected to give 1 Undershaft the green light after the changes are made.

The building’s developers, Aroland Holdings, are now expected to come up with a plan with structural adjustments to the building so that it takes up less space on the square.

The decision comes after several big names spoke out against the ultra-modern skyscraper in a last-ditch effort to prevent its construction from going ahead.

This morning, Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chairman of Lloyd’s of London – based in the iconic Richard Rogers-designed Lloyd’s building also on St Helen’s Square – wrote to City of London officials that 1 Undershaft would “deprive the City of a very important meeting space”.

And CC Land, the largest investor in the adjacent Cheesegrater building, filed an objection.

Justin Black, the company’s head of development, told the hearing: “We believe these plans are flawed and will cause unnecessary harm to the public cityscape and heritage environment.”

A spokesperson for Aroland Holdings said: “We have listened carefully to the comments made at today’s Planning Applications Sub-Committee regarding the public space at ground floor level.

“We will work closely with the City of London Corporation and our neighbours in the insurance sector to consider these minor changes to the scheme.

“We look forward to returning to the Subcommittee as soon as possible.”