Developer Brookfield Properties has secured planning to redevelop 99 Bishopsgate in London with a 54-floor tower that would be the Square Mile’s fifth tallest office building.

Brookfield-owned contractor Multiplex is in line to deliver the 240m tall scheme, which replaces a 1976-built, 24-floor office block, also presently the contractor’s UK office.

The 100,000 sq m project designed by architect RSHP includes an expansive arcade at the street level rising to 18m and a 6-storey standalone cultural building for public use next to the main tower.

Location of the existing 99 Bishopsgate building to be demolished

Demolition of the existing office is expected to take nearly two years.

Brookfield aims to retain and re-use elements of the existing building where feasible and will be targeting a retention of 48% of the current building’s mass through the re-use of its existing foundation.

Expansive public spaces at ground floor, including new green walking routes

The project team includes Turner & Townsend as PM and cost consultant, AKT II on structural engineering, Ramboll on MEP services, Atelier 10 on sustainability.

The new building will be supported with an expressed diagrid steel frame

Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee, Shravan Joshi, said: “A much-needed office development has been approved in the City of London and it speaks to the confidence that global investors have in the local real estate market, as well as the UK economy, more widely.”

“The 99 Bishopsgate scheme will also give the Square Mile one of the largest public realm upgrades from a single planning application, in recent history, increasing the ‘walkability’ of the City, so that it becomes a safer and more pleasant place to travel through.”