London's City to get tallest ever skyscraper as old Pinnacle site gets planning green light

It could be a happy ending for one of London’s troubled redevelopments, after City planners backed plans for a 61-storey tower to rise from the stump of the abandoned Pinnacle scheme.

The City of London will get its tallest skyscraper at 22 Bishopsgate.

It will eclipse the nearby Heron tower by some 150 feet.

The decision taken on Tuesday by the City of London’s planning and transportation committee to resolve to grant planning permission for the project means construction is nearing on resurrecting the site.

The biting recession brought an end to work on the Pinnacle building, dubbed the ‘Helter Skelter’, and the existing property has stood half-built since 2008.

Property investor AXA IM - Real Assets and Lipton Rogers unveiled new plans in June this year to go ahead with a building and create offices and leisure space including restaurants.

Anne Kavanagh, global head of asset management and transactions at AXA, said the building will provide a “high quality and environmentally friendly working environment for over 12,000 people”.