Plans for a third Four Seasons hotel in London took a step forward today, with the granting of planning permission for the forthcoming Heron Plaza.

Property tycoon Gerald Ronson secured permission to build the new tower, which will also incorporate a major residential and retail development in the City of London.

The 43-storey development is the second and concluding phase of works started with Ronson’s Heron Tower, which is just months from completion.

Four Seasons will open a hotel in the development, containing 190 hotel suites and 120 Four Seasons-branded residences, as well as restaurants, conference and banqueting facilities, a gym, spa and swimming pool.

Heron Plaza and accompanying Heron Tower will be located just 150 metres from Liverpool Street station, which will benefit from Crossrail connections from 2017.

That development will link London Heathrow Airport to Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf.

Four seasons already operates hotels in Mayfair and Canary Wharf, with the Park Lane property reopening later this month.

The Heron Plaza tower will have an external screen which will be constructed from a patinated natural copper alloy whose material tone and warmth will provide contrast and balance to the stainless steel of Heron Tower.

The cost of the project will be in excess of £500 million.

World Mobi

Also in Europe today, World Mobi is celebrating the success of its new city guide to London. 

World Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the World Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, London.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

London.Mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

World.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.