London's new Flower Tower: Western Europe's tallest residential skyscraper to be built in Docklands

A new 67-storey residential tower with 861 flats on 67 floors was approved by Tower Hamlets on Thursday evening.

At 771ft ft tall, the skyscraper will be Western Europe's tallest residential tower.

A separate linked development will provide a further 60 affordable homes in Limehouse. Building will commence on both sites later this year with the developments expected to be completed by 2020.

The main tower has been nicknamed the Flower Tower because of its unusual “three-petalled” footprint. Designed by architects HOK, it will overlook West India Quay on the Isle of Dogs.

Developer Greenland Group hopes to tempt buyers with the promise of a new “vertical city”.

Alongside the homes, there will be new shops, a swimming pool, wine bar, cinema, gym and even a library on site, plus a children’s play area and a communal garden.

There will only be nine parking spaces, however — all of them reserved for disabled badge users.

Tower Hamlets will receive £19 million to go towards providing affordable housing in the borough as part of the deal.

The tower itself will have 96 homes earmarked to be rented or sold to low- and medium-income local residents in danger of being priced out of the area.

A report that was considered by members of the council’s strategic development committee points out that the scheme is not without critics.

Historic England – formerly English Heritage – raises concerns that it will harm views of historic landmarks in both the Isle of Dogs and Greenwich, while 15 local residents have complained their homes could be cast into permanent shadow by the new tower.

Credit Suisse bank, which has a nearby office, has raised fears of noise, vibration, dust and air pollution during a build likely to take several years.

However, Aman Dalvi, the council’s director of development and renewal, has concluded that the tower will be an asset to the area. “The site is highly suitable for a tall building,” reads his report on the proposals.

“The tower would be of a high architectural quality, providing a marker at the end of the dock. The tower would also form part of an established cluster of tall buildings.”

As part of the project the Grade II-listed gateway and wall to West India Docks, where cargo from the West Indies was once unloaded, will need to be taken down and put into storage. It will be rebuilt brick by brick once the tower is in place.