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A 12-storey City ‘groundscraper’ set to be the home of banking giant UBS is one of three London building named among Britain’s ugliest in the shortlist for the Carbuncle Cup.

Half the sites on the six-strong list are in the capital, with Croydon’s Saffron Square, 5 Broadgate and Lincoln Plaza on the Isle of Dogs all in the running.

The competition was set up by magazine Building Design to highlight the country’s worst new development and has already been won by the capital for two years running.

Last year, the Walkie-Talkie took the prize, while in 2014 it was won by a huge Tesco development in Woolwich.

And organisers say 5 Broadgate, the new home of UBS, had a string of nominations for the cup even before it was finished.

Detractors have called it a “steel fortress, mute to the outside and proclaiming the message that citizens are not welcome.”

Another called it the “worst large building in the City of the past 20 years”.

Meanwhile, the 31-storey Lincoln Plaza, with its series of balconies, was likened to a game of Jenga and described as “an open invitation to commit suicide.”

And the brightly-coloured 43-storey Saffron Square building in south London was described by readers as having a “car crash of a façade”.

Sheffield University’s Diamond building, One Smithfield in Stoke on Trent and Poole Methodist Church make up the shortlist.

Announcing the list, Building Design wrote: “This year’s six finalists may present a variety of different buildings in all shapes and sizes but they are all united by the same old characteristics with which we all now all too familiar.

“Contextual incongruity, myopic cladding, woeful detailing, mind-numbing mediocrity, clumsy massing, incoherent form and of course poor planning are just some of the woes on gruesome display.”

The winner will be announced on Wednesday.