TWO leading restaurateurs are to launch London's highest-ever dining room at the top of the proposed Pinnacle tower development in the City.

Wolseley and St Alban owners Chris Corbin and Jeremy King are set to take over a 13,000sqft site on the £1.2billion high tower, nicknamed the "Helter-Skelter" because of its shape.

The Bishopsgate building, designed by international architects Kohn Pederson Fox Architects and due to be completed in 2012, will be the tallest building in London, with 63 floors.

The restaurant will be more than 100 metres higher than the current record holder, on the Gherkin's 39th floor.

Corbin and King, former proprietors of restaurants Le Caprice, The Ivy and J Sheekey, are to lease the top five floors of the 288metre-high building through their company Rex Restaurants Associates. With 360-degree panoramic views of London, it will include space for a cocktail bar as well as the dining rooms.

The Pinnacle, one of several towers planned for London, will be one of the "greenest" buildings in the country, with 2,000 sq m of solar panelling generating up to 200 kilowatts of electricity, more than any building in the UK. It will also have a double-layered skin that will respond to changes in the weather to cut energy consumption.

HAUTE CUISINE

Rhodes 24: Michelin-starred restaurant on the 24th floor of Tower 42 has views of London Eye and St Paul's Cathedral.

Galvin at Windows: On the 28th floor of the London Hilton, in Park Lane, Galvins offers diners a 180° panorama from Buckingham Palace to the West End.

40|30: At 180 metres above London on top of 30 St Mary Axe aka the Gherkin 40/30 is London's highest dining room, with the private restaurant situated under the building's glass dome.

Oxo Tower Restaurant: Situated on the eighth floor in one of the South Bank's most famous buildings, the blue neon-lit restaurant offers spectacular views across the river to Charing Cross and the City.

Coq d'Argent: On the roof of Stirling & Wilford's No 1 Poultry, this City stalwart has views across the Square Mile.

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