London enters the age of the skyscraper: 260 tower blocks set to transform the capital's skyline... but are they ruining it?
- A recent report revealed that 263 buildings higher than 20 storeys are currently being planned for London
- Most of the tower blocks under construction will provide luxury flats for young professionals and the super-rich
- They are set to spread beyond areas like the City and Canary Wharf to outlying districts of the capital
- Critics warn that the new wave of skyscrapers are disfiguring the London skyline and failing to tackle housing crisis
Dozens of skyscrapers and tower blocks are currently going up around London in a construction boom which is set to change the face of the capital city for ever.
Around 70 tall buildings are under construction, with nearly 200 more planned - despite London's reputation and history as a 'low-rise' city with just a few skyscrapers concentrated in small pockets.
Cheerleaders say the massive change is the only way to deal with London's housing crisis by increasing the density of the inner city.
But critics insist the new tower blocks are being built to serve foreign investors who are likely to leave the buildings empty - doing nothing to ease the problems of ordinary Londoners who face soaring rents and house prices.
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Skyline: This graphic shows how the City of London could look when proposed new skyscrapers are built, after a new report revealed that 263 tall buildings are currently being planned for the UK's capital
Distribution: This map of every tall building now under construction shows how London's new skyscrapers and tower blocks are reaching beyond the City and Canary Wharf, with many clustered along the River Thames but some located in outlying boroughs
Periphery: Some of the tower blocks are well outside central London, such as the Stratosphere in Stratford, left, and One the Elephant, right, which will be located near Elephant and Castle
The new buildings are spreading beyond the traditional skyscraper hotspots of the City and Canary Wharf, with areas as far out as Lewisham, Croydon and Brent set to see increasing numbers of tower blocks.
And in a change from the trend of recent years, which have seen enormous office blocks go up, most of the towers currently in the pipeline will be dedicated to high-end flats.
A report released last month by New London Architecture and property consultant GL Hearn revealed that a total of 263 buildings higher than 20 storeys are either being built or are going through the planning system - 11 per cent more than last year.
Out of those, 70 are currently under construction, 117 have been giving planning permission and another 76 are awaiting a planning decision.
All but eight of the tower blocks now being built are primarily residential rather than business, and the report claims that they will create 14,800 new homes.
In One Tower Bridge, overlooking the Thames, one-bedroom flats will start at £1.4million, while a studio apartment in Goodman's Fields, a new development outside the city, costs more than £700,000.
Innovative: But critics argue that buildings such as One Blackfriars are inappropriate for London's traditionally low-rise skyline
Striking: Two of the unusual skyscrapers being built are Manhattan Loft Gardens on the South Bank, left, and Saffron Square in Croydon, right
Troubled: Plans for the Pinnacle, which would be the tallest building in the City of London, have run into uncertainty
Proposal: An image of the planned development at Lots Road, on the waterfront at Chelsea, west London
Central: 199 Westminster Bridge Road is another luxury block of flats under construction near the banks of the Thames
Even in areas far from the centre, the cost of small flats can be at least twice the average house price - a one-bedroom flat in a new tower block in Stratford is being advertised for £370,000.
House prices in London as a whole have slowed in recent months but are still up 12.7 per cent on last year, according to the latest figures from Nationwide.
While most of the new towers are situated in central London boroughs such as the City, Tower Hamlets and Southwark, increasing numbers are set to be built in more suburban areas.
Two tower blocks are currently being built in Brent, two in Croydon, one in Haringey and one in Hounslow, while more tall buildings are planned for areas such as Barking, Barnet and Ealing.
Experts warn that these luxury flats in outlying areas are products of the recent housing boom - and could be vulnerable if prices fall.
Despite claims by some planners and architects that taller buildings are necessary to house the growing number of Londoners, many critics have been scathing about the quality of the towers being built.
Planning expert Peter Rees describes the buildings as being 'of dubious architectural quality', while architectural historian Tom Dyckhoff says they tend to be 'either banal or rather ugly'.
Docklands: Dollar Bay Court, featuring at least one tall tower, is one of a clutch of major new developments near Canary Wharf
Modernist: Vauxhall Cross Island, left, and 151 City Road, right, are typical of the eye-catching skyscrapers now being built
Gamble: Experts warn that buildings like the Lewisham Gateway, pictured, which are far from central London could prove extremely vulnerable if property prices start to fall over the next few years
View: The South Bank Tower would completely overshadow the Oxo building which is next to it, in order to give residents a good view of the rest of London's skyline
The first tower blocks in London went up in the 1960s, including the Barbican Estate and the Trellick Tower - housing estates which proved instantly controversial - as well as the divisive BT Tower and Centre Point.
The past 20 years have seen a new crop of skyscrapers, most of them office buildings such as One Canada Square, the Gherkin and the Walkie-Talkie.
But the Shard, which became the tallest building in western Europe when it was finished in 2012, set a precedent for the coming generation of tall buildings because it is located outside the business districts of the City of London and Canary Wharf.
The debate over the shape of London's skyline dates back 60 years, according to Mr Dyckhoff - but the first Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, took the city into a new phase by approving an unprecedented number of skyscrapers.
'London's been going on a long change,' Mr Dyckhoff tells MailOnline. 'The hullabaloo about gentrification has been going on since the 1960s.
'Ken Livingstone opened the doorway with something like the Gherkin - that was the first skyscraper that people actually liked.
'In very recent years we've had a massive influx of capital into the city in terms of residential towers. People want to invest in London - whether that's because of its political stability, or because its property has been a very good long-term investment.'
Cluster: A number of skyscrapers are being built around City Road on the edge of the City, including the Canaletto, left, and Lexicon, right
Standing out: Eagle House, left, and 100 Bishopsgate, right, will both be located in the densely populated Shoreditch area and are likely to tower over their surroundings
Wacky: 1 Merchant Square near Paddington is also known as the Cucumber, in the same fashion as existing landmark skyscrapers
Glass and steel: City North, left, will be located in Finsbury Park while Two Fifty One, right, is one of a number of new towers in Southwark
According to Mr Dyckhoff, one reason that tower blocks are more popular than other types of housing is that foreign investors are more likely to buy flats with a view of landmarks which they recognise.
'These towers are treated as products to sell to investors, and investors want things like a great view from their window,' he says. 'If you go to any of these developments, they always talk about the view.
'If they're being sold to foreign investors, these are the only bits of London they know - they know Big Ben, they know St Paul's Cathedral.'
The new skyscrapers represent 'architecture as branding', he adds, with designers keen to create iconic buildings regardless of their aesthetic quality.
'We let it all happen, we all colluded in this,' Mr Dyckhoff says. 'What benefits are we getting out of these buildings? Frankly, there are very few.
'Most developers don't want public access - why on earth would they? They trade on the beauty of the views, but what they’re doing is stealing our views, because most of them are either banal or rather ugly.
'The horse has bolted decades ago, so there’s not much we can do about it. We can't turn the clock back, we’ve got the London that we have.'
Mr Rees, the former chief planner for the Greater London Authority, argues that building skyscrapers should be a 'last resort', adding: 'It should be contemplated only when there is no further opportunity to create high-density low-rise buildings.'
He says that towers should be restricted to clusters such as Canary Wharf rather than spreading out across the capital, and suggests that skyscrapers should be used for offices rather than housing.
'Office towers can be built in tight, sustainable, clusters, minimising their impact while maximising their economic advantage,' he says. 'The same does not hold true for housing, where the highest densities in London are to be found in Chelsea, which is gloriously free of towers.'
English Heritage warned last year that the increasingly crowded skyline 'could threaten the value of London as a place to come and visit' if it leads to London losing its traditional character.
River view: A projection of how the Southwark area and the banks of the Thames could look when all the new skyscrapers are built
Domination: One Blackfriars, a 50-storey residential tower, pictured from Blackfriars Bridge in an artist's impression
Luxury: Critics claim that most Londoners will be priced out of buildings such as Tribeca Square in Elephant and Castle, left, and Merano Residences on the Albert Embankment, right
Pricey: Studio flats in Baltimore Tower, near Canary Wharf, start at around £400,000 - more than the average family home
Some claim that the damage being done to London is not only aesthetic, but financial, as the flows of foreign money into the city have been linked to global corruption and money-laundering.
'In the new-build sector you've got the highest rate of foreign buyers, around 50 per cent,' says author Ben Judah, who is writing a book about London. 'A few are buying them to live in, and most of them are using them for money laundering.
'The money's coming in from offshore, it's coming from British tax havens. The London property market’s become one of the world's top money-laundering capitals.'
He also pointed out that many of the buildings under construction will consist mainly of luxury one-bedroom flats, which cannot be used by families - meaning that they are particularly susceptible to fluctuations in the property market.
A report by Transparency International recently claimed that nearly a tenth of property in the most desirable areas of London are owned by offshore holding companies, making it difficult to trace the source of the money used to buy them.
More than £180million of property in the UK has been investigated by police as part of corruption probes in the past decade, according to the organisations.
However, estate agents and architects insist there is nothing sinister about the trend for taller buildings, saying that they are a natural result of the increasing demand for housing at a time when the city is unable to grow outwards because of the green belt.
'If London can't grow outwards, it will grow up,' says Shaun Andrews of GL Hearn. 'We've entered a new stage in London's development. I think it's here to stay - and why not?
He claims that many young professionals are keen to live in tower blocks, because it enables them to be based in central London without suffering noise from traffic and pedestrians.
'You do get a sense of serenity and peacefulness because they lift you up above the bustle,' he says. 'There is a glamour and a style aspect to living in a tall building. It feels progressive to people brought up on American television and film.'
Vista: The Lots Road development in Chelsea with the Thames stretching away to the west in another artist's impression
South of the river: The Ram Brewery, left, will be located in Wandsworth, with the Riverlight, right, near Battersea
Futuristic: The Corniche on the Albert Embankment is pictured in a computer-generated image
Wealthy: Lexicon, left, near Silicon Roundabout and Altitude, right, in Whitechapel are both aimed at high-paid City workers
Matthew Leitch, of Savills estate agent, adds: 'In those areas of London where available land is scarce and constrained, high rise residential towers present the only option to maximise space and volume of homes for London’s growing population.
'A tower can provide anything between 300 and 600 residential units on one site, so it is unsurprising that these are an increasingly popular option for planners and developers in large cities.
'Along with the aspect and natural light, buyers have come to expect excellent residents' amenities and a high specification within the apartments. It is now almost considered standard that these developments will benefit from a 24-hour concierge, as well as a gym, residents lounge and even screening facilities.'
The Royal Institute of British Architects has called on planners to block towers which do not contribute to their local area.
'Building tall should include a requirement for public access to the upper levels, for example in the form of a viewing gallery, shared amenity space, restaurant or bar,' a spokesman says. 'Buildings that impact on the public's view of their city should give the public a view back in return.
'More emphasis should also be placed on considering the way tall buildings meet the ground as this has big implications for defining the public realm, reconciling servicing arrangements, mitigating environmental impacts, access and security.'
Councils are adamant that they put a great deal of thought into the approval process - a spokesman for Tower Hamlets, where nearly 70 tall buildings are planned, says: 'All development in Tower Hamlets is considered in the context of the policies and standards set out in the borough's planning documents.'
In Southwark, home to 24 of the new skyscrapers, planners restrict tall buildings to the busiest areas with good public transport links in a bid to avoid creating white elephants.
Regeneration: Blackwall Reach, in the Docklands, is intended to help bring the ex-industrial area back to life
Isle of Dogs: 40 Marsh Wall is another residential tower destined for the area south of Canary Wharf
Glamour: Wayland House, left, is being built near Brixton and 30 Marsh Wall, right, is on the Isle of Dogs
Traditional: Campaigners worry that buildings like 81 Black Prince Road will suck the life out of the surrounding streetscapes
Sir Edward Lister, the deputy mayor of London, says that 'sensibly managed and well-designed tall buildings, which sit well within their surroundings' are necessary to create new homes in the numbers which will be needed over the next few years.
Some experts rubbish claims that high-rise buildings are the only way to increase the housing supply and ensure that prices do not soar out of control.
'The vast majority of people would rather live in a house near the ground,' says Nicholas Boys Smith, of Create Streets. 'When you ask people what they want, they say the same thing -they want houses, they want traditional streetscapes.
'We've got ourselves in a vicious circle where we push up land prices by constraining supply. There's a better way out. If you were to regenerate postwar housing estates around London, that would take care of at least 10 years of London's housing needs.'
He predicts a coming backlash against the thicket of towers rising on the skyline - similar to the changing tastes which made 1960s projects such as the Barbican go from sophisticated to nightmarish in the minds of the public.
Last month Labour peer Andrew Adonis echoed the call to regenerate housing estates in order to create 'city villages' which would imitate the high density of terraced houses in places such as Kensington.
And in March 2014, a charity backed by the Prince of Wales released a report advocating a 'mid-rise solution', with buildings of up to eight storeys replacing 'glittering towers of exclusivity and luxury living'.
Despite the increasing spread of tall buildings across London, there is little sign that any other British cities have adopted the same trend.
Property experts say that it may take years for cities like Manchester to catch up with the capital, because their property markets have taken longer to recover from the effects of the financial crisis and ensuing recession
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