The 2024 London skyscraper guide

This year is set to be a record for tall skyscraper completions in the capital — here's what's being finished in 2024, and what's in the pipeline

Mar 17, 2024

Morning — a photo mockup of the City has been doing the rounds lately, showing the huge number of skyscrapers that are due to pop up by 2030. But we really don’t have to wait that long to see London get taller — 2024 is set to be a record year for big towers in the capital, our own bit of digging suggests, and work is starting this year on some true behemoths, like a rival to the Shard. Your 2024 guide to London’s skyscrapers — what’s being finished this year and what’s starting — is after your round-up below.

Plus: the best place to live in London, a strip club scandal, and 1990s west London buses.

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What we’ve spied

🏘️ Clerkenwell has been named as the best place to live in London in the latest annual ranking from the Sunday Times. Reviewers praised the neighbourhood’s “industrial architecture, bundles of creative energy and top-night culinary and cultural scenes”, while also saying it’s “one of the best-connected places in the country” thanks to the Elizabeth Line and Thameslink. One slight con of Clerkenwell though: its average property price is £765,000. Also making the ST’s London shortlist: Crouch End, Forest Hill, Highams Park, Little Venice, London Fields and Wimbledon Village. Not everyone’s convinced of the capital’s desirability at the mo though — Glasgow is apparently the latest area priced-out Londoners are fleeing to.

📣 An anti-racism rally was held outside Hackney town hall on Friday night in support of local MP Diane Abbott. The rally, organised by local black women, follows revelations in the Guardian this week that the Conservative Party’s biggest donor had said Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”. No sign though that Labour plans to let Abbott back in to the party, after the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington had the whip suspended last year after suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people had not experienced racism.

👮‍♂️ A woman who was arrested at the Sarah Everard vigil in Clapham is being paid £10,000 in damages by the Met Police. Jennifer Edmunds was detained overnight and charged with breaching Covid restrictions at the vigil in March 2021, held in the wake of Everard’s murder by off-duty officer Wayne Cozuens. The vigil was broken up by police with a response that was criticised at the time as heavy-handed and misogynistic, and later, in 2022, the High Court ruled the Met had breached the rights of vigil organisers in its handling of the planned event. Edmunds’s lawyers have now announced that in February she reached a settlement with the Met, having sued the force for false imprisonment and breaching her human rights. It’s the third reported payout by the Met to a vigil attendee — Scotland Yard apologised and paid damages to Patsy Stevenson and Dania Al-Obeid in September last year — but it’s the first time we’ve heard the financial figures involved. Somewhat related: Susan Hall, the Tory candidate for London mayor, announced this week that if elected she’ll create a new post of women’s commissioner, to ensure women’s safety in the capital.

👯‍♀️ Another, very different legal payout in east London: a strip club owner will be paid damages by a borough council following an alleged bribery scandal. According to Santosh Nair, the owner of Club Oops in Whitechapel, a Tower Hamlets councillor “sought and failed to elicit a substantial bribe” from him in return for renewing his lap dancing bar’s “sexual entertainment” licence, which had been refused at a council meeting in September 2022. Following a challenge by Nair in the High Court, Tower Hamlets council has now agreed to pay his legal costs and damages after Club Oops was forced to close for 16 months, as well as to reinstate the bar’s license. So far no punishment for any councillor — while the council’s standards committee heard that there “was evidence of wrongdoing”, an internal investigation was “unable to proceed as there is a lack of evidence to link it to the councillor”. An external investigation is now underway. It’s poor timing for Tower Hamlets council, which is also currently being reviewed by inspectors from central government, following concerns about its management of finances and grant-making. One more headline from Tower Hamlets this week: the council is going to start removing Palestinian flags from its infrastructure, like lampposts, following complaints from some residents.

🚨 Also from Whitechapel — last week police officers and sniffer dogs were deployed at the Tube station for stop and searches, prompting criticism on social media from some. One person sarcastically wrote on X: “glad the staff shortages have ended and yous can finally get onto solving all those rapes and burglaries now”. Another on TikTok claimed the officers were trying to catch people with personal amounts of drugs, saying “catching people with half spliff at the tube station is a very easy crime to solve, while catching people who are serious predators is actually a very difficult crime to prove … they’re lazy”. We’ve since gone to the British Transport Police to figure out what they were up to, but they weren’t particularly clear. A spokesperson told us: “British Transport Police uses various operations and tactics to best police and support the public and passengers using the rail and tube network. Last Thursday (7 March) a preplanned deployment of officers and dog handlers were in attendance at Whitechapel Underground Station to ensure the safety of rail users to act as a deterrent to those hoping to cause disruption. No arrests were made.”

🚌 Outer London’s new express bus service, the Superloop, is now complete. The final three sections of Superloop — Walthamstow to North Woolwich, Thamesmead to Bromley North, and Bromley North to Croydon — have all been launched over the past few weeks, completing a 138km circle around the capital. Superloop was announced by Sadiq Khan last year in response to criticism that outer London didn’t have good enough public transport to make up for the ULEZ expansion. Khan’s had a fresh ULEZ battle this week though — the mayor has been accused of concealing data about the impact of the clean air scheme before May’s election.

🔍 And finally, we leave you with:

London is getting much taller in 2024

2024 will be a record year for London skyscrapers, the Spy’s first annual guide to towers in the capital suggests, with eight new buildings standing over 150 metres set for completion this year.

By our count, it’s the most 150m skyscrapers that will ever be completed in London in one year — the previous record being 2019, when seven towers that tall were finished.

The tallest newcomer is Aspen Tower, a residential building on the Isle of Dogs being developed by the Far East Consortium. With a height of 217m and 65 floors, it’s becoming the capital’s ninth tallest skyscraper, surpassing icons like the BT Tower, Gherkin and Walkie-Talkie.

For our guide, we’ve looked at any tower with a height of at least 150m. Some define a skyscraper as anything above 100m – but we’ve limited our search to only the tallest buildings that can compete with the incumbents on the city’s skyline. There are currently 38 that tall at the moment.

In a sign of the times, the vast majority of new skyscrapers finished in 2024 will be residential rather than office blocks. Just two of the new eight will be primarily for office use — 1 Leadenhall Street (165m, in the City) and 40 Leadenhall Street (154m). It’s a big change on the current mix of 150m towers in London, which are split roughly 50/50 between offices and apartments.

The Shard will remain the undisputed king of London’s skies when the year is done — but 2024 will also see construction work begin on a challenger: 1 Undershaft. The skyscraper, designed by Eric Parry Architects and developed by Aroland Holdings, is planned to match the Shard’s height of 309.6m. Construction on 1 Undershaft is expected to finish in 2029.

Two other significant skyscrapers are beginning construction in earnest this year: 55 Bishopsgate, which at 293m will become the third tallest skyscraper in London after the Shard and 1 Undershaft, and 100 Leadenhall Street, another whopper at 263m.

The 2024 newcomers

Aspen Tower, Consort Place: Just south of Canary Wharf, work is nearly done on Aspen Tower, a 65-storey, 217m tall residential skyscraper with 495 flats. Promotional puff for the tower says it’s been named after the aspen tree, because its architecture represents “the concept of a sleek and elegant tree, filled with life and energy”. The tower is part of an 80,000 square metre development known as Consort Place, owned by the Hong Kong-based Far East Consortium, that has cost an estimated £470m. Aside from Aspen Tower in the east, the development features the smaller Alta Tower (124m) in the west, plus a new public square, retail space, and health centre. Even a 160-year-old pub, The North Pole, is getting revamped for the development. The whole scheme had a rocky start, having initially been rejected by the local borough council, Tower Hamlets, in 2015. However, after then-mayor Boris Johnson called in the application, Consort Place was given the green light in 2016.

City Tower and River Tower, One Nine Elms: Clocking in at 199m and 160m respectively, two residential towers are set to come fully online in the Nine Elms and Vauxhall area this year, cementing the location as a proper London skyscraper district. Altogether the towers contain 437 new flats. Much of the final touches of construction for the towers were finished last year — in June 2023, contractor Multiplex shared drone footage of the final panel being put on the City Tower. But 2024 will see the towers open fully with apartment sales starting and a new Park Hyatt luxury hotel expected to open in the River Tower midway through the year. It’s been a long time coming: there was a moment when the entire project looked like it might go under, when developer R&F Properties hit debt troubles and construction dates were pushed back.

Harcourt Gardens, South Quay Plaza: For a while now, developer Berkeley Group has been constructing South Quay Plaza, a new development near Canary Wharf that features a trio of tall towers. While the entire development is slated for completion in 2028, one tower is expected to be finished this year: Harcourt Gardens, a 56-storey, 192m skyscraper. It’s again residential-led, with 396 apartments, but also with 18,000 square metres of retail space. There could have been more individual flats in it though — Berkeley Group was initially planning two-bedroom homes in the skyscraper, but in 2020 the developer decided to join some up into three-bedroom flats instead, pointing to extra demand for space from Londoners during lockdown. No doubt that’s bumped up price tags too.

15 West Lane, Wood Wharf: Some of the biggest upcoming projects of developer Canary Wharf Group — 40 Charter Street and 50 Charter Street — are still some way off from completion, having broken ground last year. But CWG is still expected to complete one tall residential tower, 15 West Lane, later this year. It’ll stand at 167m on Wood Wharf and comes as a pair with the smaller 3 West Lane (118m).

1 Leadenhall Street: The tallest office skyscraper on the 2024 list, the 165m, 36-storey 1 Leadenhall Street is being constructed at a site just adjacent to Leadenhall Market. Its developers are Brookfield Properties and it’s been designed by Make Architects. One of the more unusual aspects of its construction has been the use of a specialised crane system to avoid interfering with its facade. “From a distance, it looks as if it’s floating,” writes construction journalist Kristina Smith in a recent report.

One Thames Quay: Flat viewings and sales are now underway for this 158m, 48-storey residential skyscraper, constructed on the Isle of Dogs by developer Chalegrove Properties. What’s particularly notable about the block is it’s being claimed no fossil fuels will be required to generate energy for its luxury flats — or its impressive selection of amenities, including a cinema, bowling alley, sky lounge and sky gym. “Is this the most sustainable development in London?” asked a recent glowing feature on One Thames Quay in Country and Town House.

40 Leadenhall Street: Also known as Stanza London, 40 Leadenhall Street is the final new office skyscraper estimated to open in 2024. One major occupier of the 155m building is going to be US law firm Kirkland & Ellis, and in total it’s expected to accommodate 10,000 people. Developer M&G had originally hoped to complete the building in December 2023, but a spokesperson told the Spy it’ll now be this year.

Work starting in 2024

1 Undershaft: This gargantuan tower in the City first got planning permission back in 2016, but it’s only been in the past few weeks that it’s emerged as a challenger to the Shard as London’s tallest building. Its designers, Eric Parry Architects, submitted a re-design in February, which lifted its height from the original plan of 304.94m to 309.6m — the Civil Aviation Authority’s current height limit for London, which puts it on par with the Shard. Its shape was also re-designed to be step-based, featuring two outdoor planted terraces on each step, and its facade was changed to remove the original “cross-bracing” pattern which had earned it the nickname The Trellis. Overall, 1 Undershaft will have 160,000 square metres of offices, spaces for restaurants and culture, and a two-storey viewing gallery on top with 360 views of the capital. Singapore-based Perennial Group, the developer, has said it expects enabling work for construction to start in 2024. Its opening year has been pencilled in as 2029.

55 Bishopsgate: Also expected to start this year is the demolition work needed to clear the way for 55 Bishopsgate, a 63-storey tower that’s going to provide about 14% of the office demand required for the Square Mile by 2036. The 285m skyscraper got planning permission from the City of London last year and is currently nicknamed ‘The Leaf’. It’s also expected to be completed by 2029.

100 Leadenhall Street: Finally, we have The Diamond — a mixed-use development approved for the City in 2018 that will stand at 263.4m. It’s got that nickname from its wedge shape that features a facade of elongated diamond shapes. A slight bit of controversy surrounds this one — St Paul’s Cathedral has previously said it thinks 100 Leadenhall Street will harm the protected views of the cathedral. But architects SOM say it has “an elegant, tapered silhouette that preserves key London vistas”. Work is beginning in earnest for this skyscraper in 2024.