The Bishopsgate Tower, The City's tallest skyscraper under construction.

Business in London has long been spread over vast areas of the City backed up with excellent transportation from the tube network and bus system which has led to polycentricity instead of the CBDs seen in more modern cities. This has meant over the years London has not needed to build tall, unlike New York. Good thing too considering the heavy constraints governing the height of buildings which has stopped commercial developers from really making hay in London.
In the early '90s however Docklands in the East End emerged as an area which would threaten to lure many big businesses away from the City with competitively priced and highly specified buildings, forcing the City of London Corporation to ease planning regulations to allow developers to compete with what Docklands had to offer and keep business in the City.
The results of these regulation changes are beginning to reshape the City and the Bishopsgate Tower is now about to start appearing on the skyline as the tallest building in the City at 945ft (288 metres) and 63 floors high. The Tower which is also known as The Pinnacle has been designed by New York headquartered architects Kohn Pedersen Fox stating ,"the tower has been designed to incorporate complex tapered geometry - resolved through advanced computational parametric modelling - comprising inwardly inclined planar surfaces, which are linked by conical surfaces. The design of the entrance canopy at it's base responds to the immediate context, creating a zone at the foot of the tower similar in height to nearby buildings."
The tower also incorporates sustainable systems into the design including more solar panelling than any other building in the UK, with 21,500 sqft (2,000 sqm) of photovoltaic solar cells generating upto 200 watts of electricity. The glass facade will be made of two layers of clear glass with an inner and outer skin allowing the building to utilise climate control with low energy consumption. Once completed the tower will contain just under 1 million sqft (approx. 88,000 sqm) of office space and will include a four floor restaurant, coffee shop and public viewing gallery at the top.
Steelwork is now underway, the core is about to rise and delivery is expected in May 2012.