You’d be lucky to get the drone to fly at all, it seems that the big city is one huge hazard zone
Get him to do more than that, get him to do all the permissions from the nearby building owners, police, council, fire brigade, airspace, notify specials although the site is not that close to palace.
Building work requires quite a few permits so your client will have contacts so let him do that leg work and then you approve those permissions as the pilot. The job isn’t a one man show, to get the footage they want will cost them.
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It can be done, but it will be a logistical nightmare. Your going to need multiple spotters to keep the drone visible at all times, your also going to need to find a take off location that will allow you to cover the distance and obstacles without losing the signal.
You’ll need to plan that flight path out diligently as to avoid any possible obstacles like trees, signs, cables etc
Then of course there’s the permissions to actually fly there, with a DJI drone your gonna have fun, might be easier to get an FPV pilot to do the hard work, slap a gopro on the quad and do some editing work on the footage 
It’s clear of DJI Geo Zones. It’s beneath their new extended London City Runway Geo Zone at that point.
It’s only London CTR that needs ATC permission/notification.
Local permissions probably the biggest issue/nightmare.
I was in that area recently - tower cranes might be an issue, too.
I’d agree with the suggestion to hand it over to (certainly discuss with) someone with experience of drone flying in such a location.
It can be done - I’ve seen it being done. It’s the how-to you need to pin down.
Good luck! Let us know how it all unfolds if you manage to pull it off. 
I will definitely let you all know how it goes if I manage to pull it off! 
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FPV is not permitted for commercial work ‘CAA’
I’d suggest trying to get roof access to a property and position yourself there as it gives you better take off/landing area and line of sight for the signal. Urban zone, so spotters are also required. I’d pop in an NSF request (28 day minimum lead time on those). Do it on a Sunday morning at 5 AM and you’ll be fine. The permissions would actually be relatively straight forward, it’s just the logistics
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Pinging @scorps …. you hang-out with the mega-pro movie drone guys …. who I’m sure have flown in such locations … any chance of posing this scenario to them and getting any tips? Thx
Oh - if you need a spotter (or ten) …. let me know. 
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You’ll need people on the ground too asking the public to wait a minute or two whilst you overfly. It’s cheaper and easier than applying for road closure.
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As an aside for anyone else reading along - UAV8 specifically include planning central London jobs for just this kind of thing in their PfCO course
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The flight itself is the easy bit, you can hand takeoff and land an Inspire, Mavic and any other multi rotors.
Which make of UAV are you using?
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I think my first question would be to ask the client the budget for the shoot, might be wasting a whole lot of time for nothing.
Experience gained can be worth a lot for the future, though.
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you will have to get in touch with the film office that that location comes under prob westminster they will tell you what they want you to do as regards people police etc i am on a shoot that has a drone on it Friday i will ask them what they do i have been out and they have had permissions off of caa and the counclil wouldnt allow it
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If you need a few sia badge bods to police the public ie hold them and inform them that you are flying i can put you on to someone also traffic control but your client should have a locations or unit manager to do that its all possible depends on the budget
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will do
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If you get permissions from the relevant places they will also tell you what stipulations you need to comply you will be able to fly over buildings as long as you have done a letter drop to tell them of what you are doing its all about communication with everyone concerned
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