IRVINE SELLAR, the multimillionaire property entrepreneur, is planning to build a £400 million office and shopping development spanning 600,000 sq ft next door to the proposed “Shard of Glass” skyscraper at London Bridge, The Times has learnt.

The new project, which will be called the “Baby Shard”, is three quarters the size of Canary Wharf tower and has been designed by Renzo Piano, the Italian architect, who teamed up with the Richard Rogers Partnership to build the Pompidou modern art museum in Paris.

Under the proposals, which will be submitted to Southwark council early in the new year, an office tower that was built in the 1970s will be demolished to make way for the new structure. The new structure will retain the name of the existing building, New London Bridge House.

Mr Sellar said that he hoped that the project would form the kernel of a new “London Bridge quarter”, breathing fresh life into the busy transport hub. A new, bigger bus station will be constructed to the north of the building, with 21 stands, replacing the existing 13-stand station.

Meanwhile, a new public space would be developed between the Shard and New London Bridge House, transforming the concrete concourse with an open piazza planted with trees. The nearby tube and bus station would also be enlarged and opened up to allow more natural light to filter in through the use of skylights and glass bricks.

New London Bridge House will, it is planned, feature a 36,000 sq ft inclined roof with solar panels, which will allow solar energy to be used as a significant power source for the building.

The news comes just days after Mr Sellar and his joint venture partners, CLS, the listed property company, and Simon Halabi settled a legal dispute about their ownership stakes in the proposed Shard of Glass project, which will become Europe’s tallest tower when it is built.

They agreed an out-of-court settlement, which brought to an end a court case in Jersey that had aimed to resolve the row.

Mr Sellar said that the partners had now “kissed and made up” and all remained committed to the development of the London Bridge quarter.

As part of the agreement, Mr Halabi will become an equal partner in the New London Bridge House project alongside Mr Sellar’s Sellar Property Group and CLS. The three partners will also have equal stakes in the Shard of Glass development.

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