Excitement is building in Colliers Wood as construction workers are about to start major reconstruction of an abandoned tower block voted London's ugliest building.

Preparations are already underway to turn the Brown and Root tower in Colliers Wood into a glass-clad block of 150 flats with shops on the ground floor.

Wimbledon Times:

Eye-sore: the dilapidated tower has blighted the horizon for more than a decade 

Builders have been doing preparatory work since before Christmas, with the main construction activity due to begin next month.

'A tremendous Christmas present' - workers sighted at long last at the Brown and Root tower

It is welcome news to thousands of residents and councillors who have campaigned for more than 10 years for Criterion Capital CEO Asif Asiz to redevelop the vacant tower, which was voted London's ugliest building in a 2006 BBC poll.

Criterion Capital, which owns the building, also has planning permission to build a further 68 flats as part of an extension on the south side of the abandoned 1960s eye-sore.

Developers are giving £220,000 towards town centre infrastructure improvements under the planning consent agreement with Merton Council.

Councillor Nick Draper, who has represented Colliers Wood since 2002, said: "It's really exciting. The reward is that Colliers Wood is going to be a better place.

"It's going to be the place that it's always wanted to be.

"The really important thing for me is that for so many years the tower has been almost a barrier between the old part of Colliers Wood, the residential part with the high street and the new area with the shopping centre and big Sainsbury's.

"And in a way the tower has sort of stood between them as a portcullis and I think the shops at the bottom of the tower will bring the two sides of Colliers Wood together."

Contractors J.J.Rhatigan were appointed by Criterion in October to carry out the construction work.

The 17-storey tower has a long and complex planning history.

Wimbledon Times:

First named the Lyon Tower and then The Vortex, it became known as the Brown & Root Tower after the American engineering firm Brown & Root Halliburton which occupied it from 1971 to 1995.

Companies run by Mr Aziz, including Golfrate and Criterion Capital, have owned the building since 2000.

In 2005 London Green Developments (LGD) approached Golfrate to buy the tower and turn it into flats, a hotel and offices.

Wimbledon Times:

The controversial tower was built in the 1960s in The Chicago School style

Planning permission was granted to LGD in December 2005, but the deal collapsed and ended up in High Court after contractors attempted to back out of an agreement with Merton Council to invest nearly £2m in the community in exchange for permitting the development.

Since then, Criterion has submitted a number of planning applications. The current redevelopment was approved by Merton Council in 2011 and is expected to be completed by summer 2016.