22 Bishopsgate completion in sight

Construction of a commercial skyscraper which will be the UK’s second tallest building when it opens is on the path to completion, thirteen years after initial plans to develop the site were ventured.22 Bishopsgate, London – dubbed Twentytwo by its developers – will stand 278m high, second only to the Shard building (310m).The new build comprises 1,400,000 square feet of office space over 62 floors and is set to open late next year, with the core of the building expected to be finished in a matter of weeks.In addition, the 12,000 person capacity site will include restaurants, a viewing gallery, and bicycle parking space fit for 1,500 bikes.The property is being developed by AXA Investment Managers and Lipton Rogers in partnership – with the former company having announced plans to move their own offices into the building in early 2020.The investment firm and real estate group acquired the site in 2015 from its previous investors, who had originally planned to build a 307.5m tower named The Pinnacle on the land.The Civil Aviation Authority refused to approve the initial design due to its height however, and work halted altogether in 2012 in the aftermath of the global financial crash.

The regulator determines the acceptable height for all buildings in London, to ensure there is no interference with airplane flight paths.Work on schedule after clearing ‘right to light’ hurdleThe skyscraper’s most recent challenge came in 2016, when developers faced a lawsuit from nearby property owners who argued that the plans to build such a tall building would violate their proprietary ‘right to light.’The claim was quashed however after the City of London Corporation stepped in to provide developers with a legal loophole — temporarily acquiring the land in order to override the ‘right to light’ easements.A spokesperson for the developers at the time termed the council’s decision a “positive step forward in allowing us to bring forward the development…within the intended timetable.”Light easements generally entitle property owners to the right to preserve a reasonable level of natural light on their property.They are often used by residential neighbours seeking to block the construction of a huge commercial project nearby by arguing that it would excessively overshadow the residential property.The restrictive legal right has therefore proven particularly problematic for large commercial developers in the past.Section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 however allows local authorities which have acquired a site under construction to override neighbours’ rights to light and permit development to go ahead in the interests of the wider area.City council backs developers in right to light disputesJon Mowbray, Real Estate Dispute Resolution Partner at IBB, comments that Section 203 powers are being more frequently used by London local councils to facilitate large, disputed commercial developments.Last month, for example, the City of London’s planning committee decided to acquire a stake in a £300m tower being built by WilkinsonEyre in order to defeat a slew of easement challenges.Construction to transform 6-8 Bishopsgate and 150 Leadenhall Street into one, 40-storey building is set to start next year, pending the legal resolution of 41 right-to-light disputes and a restrictive covenant placed on the site itself.Nearly half (19) of the easement conflicts raised are deemed “particularly complex” and “slow to resolve”, with developers concluding that “the timely delivery of the development will only be possible with the City’s assistance.”