City of Gherkin, Cheese Grater and Walkie Talkie

It all began in May 2004 with the opening of the "Gherkin" in London's main financial district, the "City". The mania for strange-looking skyscrapers had begun.

Then came the credit crisis and the construction stopped.

But now, in a move regarded as a vote of confidence in the City as a global financial centre, British Land, one of the UK's largest property companies, is building its "Cheese Grater". Meanwhile, Land Securities, the biggest British developer, has decided to build a rival skyscraper, known as the "Walkie Talkie ". Both towers will open by 2014 and are being financed with hundreds of millions of pounds of funding from investors in Qatar, Canada and China.

"These towers reflect London's strength as a financial capital and its economic success, which is why they were stopped two years ago in the credit crunch but can restart again now," Peter Rees, London's head of planning, told the Financial Times.