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Signs of life returning to the capital鈥檚 property market come as the 拢242m Heron Tower (below) this week became one of the few schemes in the City to top out over the past 18 months.

Construction data provider Barbour ABI revealed that the top 30 schemes over 拢50m that have restarted in London are collectively worth 拢4.2bn.

The list includes Enderby鈥檚 Wharf, a 拢350m mixed-use scheme in Greenwich, a 拢700m 67,800m2 mixed-use development in Croydon, and Project Chrysalis, the 拢100m redevelopment of New Covent Garden Market.

It also includes a number of high-profile projects rumoured to be starting on site this year such as Land Securities鈥� Bressenden Place and Selborne House schemes.

However, the data also shows that 拢4.3bn of London projects in the 拢50m-plus bracket were still on hold over the past 12 months.

Nicholas Thompson, chief executive of commercial architect Aukett Fitzroy Robinson, said that while a figure of 拢4bn was encouraging, it was not enough to avoid a 鈥渟tatic鈥� 2010.

He said: 鈥淎 lot of activity in the 拢50m-plus bracket will be the result of the rights issues that the larger developers carried out this year. A lot of projects under 拢50m will be funded by bank debt and third-party financing and may not come back online so quickly.鈥�

Meanwhile, the topping out of the 202m-high Heron Tower makes it currently the tallest building in London.

Gerald Ronson, chief executive of developer Heron International, said now was the right time for developers with access to funding to build, and warned that firms holding back could miss out as demand for space increases.

But Steve McGuckin, managing director of Turner & Townsend UK, said the perceived revival should be treated with 鈥渃autious optimism鈥� rather than lead to the assumption that a 鈥渂lanket recovery鈥� was underway.

His point was underlined this week in research published by Savills, which showed a 1.3% decline in UK commercial development in March from February鈥檚 33-month high.

Almost 20% of commercial developers reported a drop in total activity in this sector compared with 18% that indicated a rise.