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Thought the City of London couldn’t get any more jam packed with huge skyscrapers? Think again. The district’s local authority has been giving the thumbs up to shiny new towers left, right and centre. In fact, last year was a record year for planning approvals for projects in the Square Mile.
More than half a million square metres of new office space in the City was given a green light in the area last year – the equivalent to 10 Gherkins. Around half of all of that space is already under construction. Now, the City of London Corporation has unveiled what the district’s skyline will look like in around six years time.
Find the 2032 render below and, for comparison below that, what it looked like in 2017.
The tallest of the new towers will be One Undershaft, which was finally approved after eight years of planning in 2024, and began construction last year. It’ll take up the gap between the Gherkin and the Leadenhall building and stretch 309.6m (74 storeys) towards the sky. Once built, Undershaft will be the highest tower in the City of London and the joint tallest building in the UK and Western Europe, next to the Shard. It’ll be closely followed by the 63-storey 55 Bishopsgate, which will be the third tallest tower in the whole city once it’s completed (anticipated to be around 2029 or 2030).
The plethora of buildings granted approval last year include 85 Gracechurch Street, a 32-storey structure being built atop a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica and the nearby 63 St Mary’s Axe, a 45-floor tower that’ll reveal a previously hidden part of the ancient London Wall. There’s also 130 Fenchurch Street, a 31-storey skyscraper next to the Walkie Talkie that’ll feature a public sky garden, slated for completion by 2030 and the 54-floor 99 Bishopsgate that’s expected to start construction this year.
More structures that are already in the process of being built include 55 Old Broad Street, a 24-floor building that’s replace a 1970s block and the 57-storey 100 Leadenhall Street (aka ‘The Diamond’) due to be finished by 2027.
On top of all that, the corporation says that 2026 has seen the busiest start to the year for planning application submissions and decisions in seven years. It revealed that there was an 84 percent increase in application decisions in January compared to the same month last year.
Tom Sleigh, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s planning and transportation committee, said: ‘Commercial development in the Square Mile is all systems go. We’ve just had our strongest January for planning in seven years, both in applications submitted and decisions made, reflecting the outstanding work of our planning team who are delivering decisions at pace and with high standards.
‘We’ve already approved four major schemes in the first few weeks of the year alone and that tells you everything about investor confidence in the City.’
Here are nine huge developments that will change London in 2026.
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