The scheme will provide a total net office floorspace for UBS of approximately 700,000 sq ft, and will include four trading floors capable of accommodating approximately 750 traders per floor.

The building will require demolition of buildings 4 and 6 at Broadgate, which prompted the Twentieth Century Society to call for Broadgate to be designated a conservation area.

The planning committee said that the new UBS headquarters would allow the bank – and therefore the City – to grow.

Chris Grigg, Chief Executive of  British Land, said: “The City, in its decision today, has acknowledged the importance of the current and future needs of key occupiers for attractive, flexible and sustainable floor space, the retention of UBS in Broadgate and the maintenance of London’s status as a world class financial centre.”

In its Committee Report, the City described 5 Broadgate as a “striking and eye catching addition to the new architecture of the City” and in its Design Review the Government’s design adviser, CABE, said that 5 Broadgate “is an exciting opportunity for a major new building in the City of London”.

The building is designed by Ken Shuttleworth at Make and will replace 3, 4 and 6 Broadgate.

A new public route will be opened up east-west connecting Broadgate Circle with Sun Street Passage to provide a direct route to Liverpool Street Station and to Exchange Square to the north.

A new ‘gateway space’, known as Sun Street Square, with a café at the base of 3 Finsbury will be created to provide a new pedestrian crossing to Crown Placeand the northern approach to Finsbury Avenue Square will be redefined with new landscaping.

Environmental measures will include low carbon energy with photovoltaics and solar thermal panels, reducing water consumption by rainwater harvesting and increasing biodiversity through the incorporation of green roofs and terraces.