Renzo Piano, the Italian architect, is to design the largest skyscraper in Europe for a site near London Bridge in central London. He has been brought in by the developer Sellar Property, which owns the site for the 87-floor tower.

As i-FM reported in April (see news 14th April), the Sellar group, owned by Irvine Sellar, originally employed Broadway Malyan but their design was considered to be "too uninspiring to outweigh concerns over the size of the project."

Piano visited the site of the proposed record-breaking tower for the first time over the weekend. He has "a vision of a sustainable design that he hopes will usher in a new era of ecologically friendly buildings."

Piano’s version of the skyscraper will be built on a brick base above a new transport interchange and incorporate outdoor gardens on all levels. The main body of the tapering building will comprise glass and oxidised copper and will incorporate a piazza in the centre and an open platform at the top. The temperature of the tower will not be regulated by air-conditioning but by an environmentally friendly ventilation system.

"Towers are normally very arrogant buildings," said Piano, "I would like something more gentle, an ecological and sustainable concept that is less obtrusive and more natural."

If the architect’s design is approved by Southwark council the tower could be completed by 2005.

Anna Lagerkvist