Peter Murray: What will our skyline look like in the future?

The Mayor must start looking now at the 3D technology that shows how tall buildings will affect the capital
Skycrapers around the City of London: there are hundreds of tall buildings planned for the capital
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Peter Murray31 March 2017
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"A disaster!” wrote Simon Jenkins. “Ruining London’s character!” thundered Historic England’s Duncan Wilson. They were talking about Westminster’s decision to consult residents about tall buildings in the borough. The council wants to know where people think tall buildings should go, and what they like and dislike about them.

Surely all Londoners just hate tall buildings, don’t they? Not necessarily. In a survey by Ipsos Mori in 2014, 46 per cent agreed that tall buildings have made London look better; only 25 per cent disagreed. But like them or loathe them, how do you know what the impact of one proposed in your neighbourhood is going to be? At the moment it’s hard to find out, but technology is coming to the rescue.

The Mayor is looking at ways of using a 3D virtual computer model to show what the future London will look like. Developers will put computer renditions of their schemes onto the main model to help people, planners, architects and Sadiq himself to understand what the impact of any proposed tall buildings will be — on the skyline and at ground level.

The Mayor said this week that he supports tall buildings “of the highest quality design in the right place”. The City of London Corporation has been using a virtual model over the past year to help work out where new development should happen, with great effect. Barking & Dagenham council has now got one too. It is very important that the Mayor’s model is of the whole of London since tall buildings have a wide impact and views are no respecters of borough boundaries. Singapore is about to launch its own digital model, making it the smartest planning city in the world. We need to catch up.

What makes this all so important is that the Mayor is currently preparing the new London Plan, which will be the blueprint for development over the next 20-25 years, with the aim of delivering “good growth” as London’s population rises to 10.5 million by 2041, from its current 8.8 million. How do we deliver all the new houses without expanding into the green belt — something the Mayor said he was not going to do? It’s a no-brainer: we have to build more densely.

Today New London Architecture (NLA) launched its research into the number of proposed tall buildings in the capital. NLA is a key centre for the discussion of issues around London’s built environment; its membership is made up of architects, surveyors, planners and developers, as well as local authorities, and it has published an annual update on tall buildings in the capital since 2014. This year the research shows that 83 new tall buildings were submitted for planning in 2016, giving a total pipeline of tall buildings in London of 455, up from 436 in 2015. The figures also show a shift towards outer London, with 82 tall buildings in zones 3-4 and 25 in zone 5.

The Mayor agrees that tall buildings are not the only way of providing the housing and employment space London needs: “greater densities can be achieved through a range of building design, including courtyard blocks and mid-rise building” and that “what is possible and appropriate will depend upon the specifics of the site”, he says. But how do we get the right solution for the right place?

Local plans, which every borough is bound to produce, need to move on from their current 2D format and start looking at the height and massing of future parts of the city. At the moment they show how much development is needed and where it will be, but they give little clue of what it will actually be like. The latest government housing White Paper says it is important “that people have a say over where new homes go and what they look like through the planning process”. If people are to have a constructive voice, then they need to be given a clear idea of what is proposed and the impact it will have

Sadiq Khan needs to get his skates on. The NLA figures show a steady and continuing stream of tall buildings across the capital, and if the Mayor is serious about delivering “a city for all Londoners”, then he needs to engage with them in a way that enables a well-judged response rather than a knee-jerk reaction. A 3D model can help that happen and show that London is smart as well as open.

Peter Murray is chairman of New London Architecture

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