Gaze into the skies over our cities and you will see that the crane count has fallen: work has temporarily ceased on at least a third of housing developments. But, as Liam Bailey, of Knight Frank, the estate agents, points out, it's hard to down tools if you're building something as conspicuous as a tower block. The only way is up - whatever the direction of the market. Moreover, some construction companies are confident that their towers will not be monuments to folly but fully occupied 21st-century landmarks.

This month, British Land, the construction group, launches One Osnaburgh Street, its Terry Farrell-designed 20-storey residential block, minutes from Regent's Park. Currently the building is a mammoth grey slab, visible as you pass the Osnaburgh Street as you head along Euston Road towards Euston and King's Cross. A year from now, in its completed state, the tower will be a curvy structure, clad in green-grey, glazed terracotta that shimmers - but not in a gaudy way. The apartments will range from studios to duplex penthouses and from £335,000 to £2.5 million-plus.

British Land believes that attention to detail will help to differentiate One Osnaburgh Street from the mass of city apartments. James Taylor, the company's residential asset manager, says that the block's windows follow the double-height windows of nearby Holy Trinity church, designed by Sir John Soane. The tower's lobby is a hotel-like space, its stone floor set with tiny fossils. There will be more special stone in the apartments.

Buyers will also be interested in British Land's promise of commitment to One Osnaburgh Street; the finished premises will be managed by a division of the £4 billion conglomerate. The size of the business matters in what Stephen Hester, British Land's chief executive, has called a “stressed economic and market environment”. Taylor explains: “We're not a cash-starved, medium-sized housebuilder desperate to do a deal.” Meanwhile, unlike some other cities, Inner London is not over-supplied with upscale apartments; the glut is confined to the east of the city.

The Osnaburgh Street area is now known as Regent's Park; in its pre-regeneration past, it was either Camden or King's Cross. Kenneth Williams, the comic, lived (mostly unhappily) in a flat on the road. This block and other buildings were demolished to make way for the British Land Regent's Place scheme which includes the tower and also glass and steel corporate headquarters. This mixed use milieu could be intimidating, but public artworks from Antony Gormley, Michael Craig Martin and others turns a trip around Regent's Place's squares and backstreets into a mystery tour where an S-shaped bench is revealed as an installation by Turner Prize nominees Langlands & Bell.

Boredom will not be a problem, as Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia and Marylebone are in walking distance. Residents will be able to stroll in Regent's Park, enjoy the restaurants of Great Portland Street or mooch around the British Museum. The proximity of Tube stations always sets local pulses racing: this is a thrilling, multiline location, with four stations near by - Euston Square, Great Portland Street, Regent's Park and Warren Street.

If London's pleasures pall, Euston and the Eurostar terminus at St Pancras provide escape routes. As part of another venture, British Land is engaged in a £1 billion revamp of Euston, aiming to re-establish the station as a place where passengers are delighted, rather than dispirited, to arrive or embark. This revamp will have benefits for the residents of One Osnaburgh Street - which you can choose to see either as a happy coincidence or just another illustration that nowadays size matters.

www.regentsplace.com ; King Sturge 020-7993 7397

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