The City of London Corporation has this week resolved to grant planning permission to Lai Sun Development Company for their skyscraper at 100 Leadenhall in the City of London. When completed, the structure will reach a height of 263.4 metres making it the third tallest building in the Square Mile.
The City Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee voted to approve the project which will involve the demolition of existing developments at 100, 106 & 107 Leadenhall Street, replaced by the development of a 56-storey building. An estimated 6,300 workers will work in the building upon completion.
The building, colloquially termed “Cheesegrater 2”, will provide over 102,000 square metres of office accommodation, as well as basement showers, cycle parking, ground-floor retail space, two podium terraces and a public viewing gallery on the top two floors which will be served by dedicated lifts.
The first level of the free public viewing gallery will provide 360-degree panoramic views across London while the top floor will offer views to the south, hosting up to 360 guests at a time. Outside of public viewing gallery hours, the levels will be used as a restaurant and bar.
100 Leadenhall Street will be one of the seven tall buildings in the City’s eastern cluster due to complete construction by 2026 that will host a high level free public viewing gallery at its peak, a trend seen nowhere else in Europe.
The development will provide a significant increase in flexible office accommodation in the City. This comes after the amount of serviced office and co-working space in the Square Mile doubled since 2010 with approximately 20,000 people now working from such spaces.
New routes through the site will allow the public to benefit from more navigable and less congested network of City streets. One route will create a link between Leadenhall Street and Bury Street accessible 24 hours per day. Another route connecting Leadenhall Street to St Mary Axe will lead to a new garden space at the rear of Grade I Church of St Andrew Undershaft for City workers and visitors to enjoy between 0600 and 2100.
