Plans for what would become the tallest tower in the City of London have been approved, despite concerns that it could harm views of the Tower of London.
The 305.3m-tall tower at 20 Bury Street, designed by Foster + Partners, has been proposed by developer Safra Group.
Safra Group hopes to open the Tulip as a visitor attraction, offering skybridges, internal slides, an education facility at the top, and gondola pods that move up and down the top of the tower. The building would be the tallest in the City of London, and would by just shy of London’s tallest, the Shard, at 310m and is expected to attract 1.2m visitors a year.
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Historic England branded the building a “lift shaft with a bulge on top” and claimed it would damage London’s heritage.
Meanwhile Historic Royal Palaces said the new tower would cause “serious harm” to the status of the Tower of London. The Borough of Tower Hamlets and the Diocese of London objected.
But the City of London Corporation said it expected public benefits to outweigh any negatives, despite admitting that the case was “finely balanced”.
The City Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee voted 18-7 to approve the project.
Planning Committee chairman, Chris Hayward, said: “After a lengthy and robust debate, the committee agreed to approve this truly unique visitor attraction.
“One of my key objectives as Chairman of the Planning and Transportation Committee has been to enable the continued transformation of the City of London into a place which welcomes members of the public on weekends as during the week. This building has the potential to play an important role in realising our vision of the Square Mile as a vibrant 24/7 city.”
