The tower will be fitted with nine high-speed passenger lifts

At over 235m, the 67-storey residential tower will rank as the tallest in the UK and Western Europe once complete in 2020.

Above-ground demolition works at the site at the western end of the north dock in Canary Wharf have already been undertaken.

Piling for the tower will begin in January with the tower scheduled to reach the halfway point in height during the summer of 2018.

The distinctly-shaped tower has been designed by HOK around a clover or orchid shaped footprint to maximise views for each of the 861 flats that will be mostly for private sale.

Wenhao QIAN, Managing Director of Greenland (UK) Investment, said: “This important launch reflects the confidence that Greenland Group continues to have in both the London economy and the London property market.

“We believe that there is always a demand for best in class property assets that offer a high quality, bespoke, designed and unique product in a prime location.

“In our view Spire London fulfils these criteria, and we believe there will be significant demand for the apartments within this tower from both the UK and overseas.”

The basement runs to a depth of just 11.7m as the site sits above Crossrail running tunnels, although all piling will be outside the Crossrail exclusion zone. Affordable housing will be included in the western wing of the building.

Around half the building facade is to be fitted with vision glass and the remainder will be fitted with highly-insulated metal panel backed glass curtain wall known as “shadow boxes” to give the building the appearance of being fully glazed from the exterior while reducing solar gain.

The construction phase will employ over 900 construction workers during a 55-month programme.