The US banking giant confirmed today that work will restart on the 2m sq ft Riverside South scheme which was halted at basement level earlier this year amid concerns about London’s future as a world-leading financial centre.

JP Morgan has now committed itself to the capital with the purchase of the former Lehman Brothers building in Canary Wharf for £495m which will be fitted-out ready for occupation in 2012.

The bank is also buying its leasehold property on Victoria Embankment and pushing ahead with Riverside South.

The Canary Wharf Group said construction work at Riverside South would restart immediately to bring the development to street level and that it had extended its development agreement with JP Morgan until October 2016.

Canary Wharf Contractors has laid the foundations of the building, designed by Lord Rogers’s firm Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners.