One of Croydon's most famous buildings is up for sale for almost £50million.

The tower near East Croydon station is called No1 Croydon but is more commonly known as the 50p building.

It is being marketed by city property agent Jones Lang LaSalle as a "unique opportunity to buy a landmark office building in London's largest suburban office market".

The sale comes just a few months after global transport consultants Atkins took over three-and-a-half floors.

Croydon's tallest building, the former NLA Tower is a 23-storey office building situated at the junction of George Street, Cherry Orchard Road and Addiscombe Road.

It was bought in July 2005 as part of a £100m office portfolio from Delek Real Estate and now Jones Lang LaSalle is seeking offers in excess of £47.5million.

A refurbishment programme costing more than £3.5million was recently completed. It included a six-month exterior clean and a comprehensive refurbishment of 74,543sq ft of offices.

A spokesman for Jones Lang LaSalle said: "No 1 Croydon represents one of the best active management and refurbishment opportunities in the south east office market.

"Croydon has a reducing supply of quality offices, hence the need for good quality refurbishments and new office schemes to satisfy active demand. Rents in the building are currently topping £21.50 per square foot, which is the highest rents that Croydon has ever seen."

After the completion of the nearby Gateway development rents are expected to shoot up to £27.50 to £30 per square foot - the same as office rents in Windsor and Heathrow.

Other tenants at the building include Liberata, AIG, Pegasus and the Institute of Public Finance.

The spokesman added: "We anticipate returns for Croydon offices will outperform other markets on rental growth alone."