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Fletcher Priest鈥檚 plans for the latest addition to the City of London鈥檚 main tower cluster are set to be given the go ahead next week.

Planning officers have recommended approval for the 46-storey office building at 63 St Mary Axe ahead of a meeting of the City鈥檚 planning applications sub-committee on 8 July.

The endorsement was made despite an , which said the tower would impact views of the Tower of London and harm a medieval burial ground on the site.

Designed for multinational investor Axa IM Alts, the building would contain around 85,000sq m of office space, 4,000sq m of cultural and community space and outdoor gardens on all occupied levels.

It would also contain a permanent exhibit of a surviving section of the Roman wall which will be displayed in a recessed area of the building at street level.

City planning officers said the proposals would be a 鈥渟triking, ambitious addition to the cluster, being of a unique architectural character that would combine pragmatism and playfulness in equal measure鈥�.

The 357-page officers鈥� report added that the scheme would contribute towards the ambitions of the Destination City initiative to diversify the Square Mile鈥檚 economy by creating a 鈥減leasant place in the City to linger, enjoy and experience, rather than just pass through鈥�.

The plans have stirred some controversy due to the proposed removal of a 13th century burial ground on the site which is the only remaining physical evidence of the two medieval churches it was associated with, St Augustine Papey and St Martin Outwich. 

Historic England said in April that the removal of the burial ground 鈥渕ay cause a level of harm that would not be outweighed by the heritage benefit of showcasing the [Roman] wall鈥�.

However, City officers claimed the proposals would 鈥渆nhance鈥� the burial ground and praised plans for a PhD studentship to oversee and manage the excavation and study of any artefacts uncovered during pre-construction surveys.

Officers also countered claims by Historic England that the tower would harm views of the Tower of London, arguing the sloped form of the tower has been designed to appear deferential to the World Heritage Site.

The project team on 63 St Mary Axe includes T&T Alinea as cost consultant, with CBRE acting as project manager, AKT II as structural and civil engineer, Arup as fire engineer, Velocity as transport consultant and Gustafson Porter & Bowman as landscape architect.

Other members of the team include mechanical engineer Hilson Moran, facade engineer FMDC, daylight consultant GIA and planning consultant DP9.

Fletcher Priest is also working on two other tower proposals in the cluster, the 24-storey 55 Old Broad Street for Landsec and the 32-storey 55 Gracechurch Street for Tenacity.

Axa IM Alts is a subsidiary of investment management firm Axa IM, which is itself a subsidiary of French multinational insurance firm Axa.

Another division, Axa IM Real Assets, developed PLP鈥檚 22 Bishopsgate in partnership with Lipton Rogers. Main contractor on 22 was Multiplex.