Sir George Iacobescu, the former chairman of Canary Wharf Group, has unveiled the first images of a tower he wants to build beside the Gherkin at 33 St Mary Axe, a 300 metre office building that would rise close to the height of the Shard. WilkinsonEyre released the images on 26 October 2026, showing a vertically ribbed glass facade with a curved roofline climbing behind the 180 metre Gherkin, which turned 22 this year.
The tower would replace Exchequer Court, the 1990s office block that has stood on the site since it was rebuilt after the 1992 Baltic Exchange bombing. AmTrust, the US insurer that bought the site in 2017 for £105m, owns the freehold, and its UK carrier, AmTrust Specialty Limited, keeps its registered office there. LCM reported in earlier coverage of the scheme that no contractor, construction contract or start date had been set. That is still the case, but the project now has a name behind it and a first look at the design.
Image: London Construction Magazine editorial visualisation.
Iacobescu steers a new development manager
Iacobescu spent 36 years at Canary Wharf Group and stepped down as its chairman in July 2024. AmTrust has brought him in through Upper Brook, a development management company set up in 2025, to steer the professional team through the scheme. WSP is the multidisciplinary engineer, Bidwells is the planning consultant and SLA is the landscape architect.
Chaya Cooperberg, AmTrust's chief people and communications officer, said: "This is a long-term commitment to London we are making." She has described the scheme as a statement of intent and said it should help ease the City's shortage of top-tier office space.
A reported 70 storeys, not yet confirmed
Press coverage around the consultation has put the tower at roughly 70 storeys, but WilkinsonEyre and Upper Brook have not confirmed a final height or storey count in the formal consultation boards. At about 300 metres, the design would sit close to One London at 1 Undershaft and the Shard, both 309.6 metres, without necessarily matching them. The scheme would deliver more than 1m sq ft of Grade A office space.
The design keeps part of the existing basement rather than excavating a new one from scratch, a move aimed at cutting the embodied carbon that a supertall tower's foundations and core would otherwise require.
Public space and a heritage neighbour
About 37,600 sq ft of the scheme is public space rather than office floor. A free, double height garden on the seventh floor looks out towards the Gherkin, and the lower floors are planned as cultural and educational space, including events for school children. At street level, the tower would be set back to create a public courtyard with new pedestrian routes through the site.
The site sits in the St Helen's Place Conservation Area, next to the Grade I listed St Helen's Bishopsgate church, and the tower's orientation and massing are being shaped with that neighbour in mind.
What happens next
Upper Brook held public exhibitions on the proposals on 26 and 28 October 2026. Online feedback stays open until 6 November, after which a second round of consultation is planned for late November with fuller architectural designs. A planning application to the City of London Corporation is targeted for early 2027, with completion aimed for 2033 if the scheme is approved.
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