The tower, being designed by architects Woods Bagot, would have about 20,000 square metres of office space, in addition to a food court, a market hall and 500 square metres of other public space, according to an environmental impact assessment scoping report lodged with the neighbouring borough of Westminster last month.
Woods Bagot told CN's sister title, Architects' Journal, which first broke the story, that it expects more details to be published for consultation in the autumn. A planning application is expected to be submitted afterwards.
But it stressed the scheme was "still evolving in response to the development brief and pre-application consultation".
Woods Bagot's tower is being designed with development manager Shaw Corporation and developer Hertshten Properties.
The site is home to a 1930s office building with two ground-floor units, currently occupied by Holland & Barrett and Pure Food. The building has 6,500 square metres of space across nine storeys, but it will be demolished to make way for the tower – apart from its masonry façade, which will be adapted.
The site borders the Grade II-listed Leadenhall Market to the north, south and east, as well as sitting by the New Moon pub, Lime Street Passage and Bull's Head Passage. It is also a stone's throw away from the site of One Leadenhall, a 36-storey tower that is under construction to the north of Leadenhall Market.
If built, a tower at 85 Gracechurch Street would further fill a gap in the City of London's skyline between the existing tower cluster around Bishopsgate and Leadenhall Street and the Walkie Talkie – originally proposed as an outlier tower sitting about 200m south of the cluster.
A spokesperson for Woods Bagot said: "Whilst at an early stage, the plans are likely to include a new, highly sustainable commercial building with wellbeing-led office accommodation and a new flexible market hall at lower levels, which will complement and support the rejuvenation of historic Leadenhall Market.
"We are currently working on our ideas and hope to launch these for wider consultation in the autumn."
Modular developer and contractor Tide Construction confirmed earlier this week that it had received the go-ahead to build a 48-storey student accommodation tower in London's Canary Wharf.
Source: Construction News