Keeping an Eye on The Big Buildings Coming to your Borough

In our piece on London’s protected views, we mentioned the proposed tower nicknamed the Trellis. This new build will be part of our ever-developing skyline, standing just 6 metres shy of the Shard in the south.

Despite its imminent-sounding arrival, the Trellis won’t likely be built until the mid 2020’s. The Aviva building currently in its place has the ground lease until 2024. We’ve learned a lot can happen in just a few years, so it begs the question what else is being planned for our city whilst we await the Trellis?

The Planning Pipeline

The total number of tall buildings in the London pipeline is now a whopping 436. It sounds not only daunting but disastrous. These aren’t of course all skyscrapers – buildings are deemed tall at 20 storeys. 73% of that number aren’t offices but living accommodation, which is sorely needed. Nevertheless, all these plans will still pack quite the punch on our skyline.

London actually builds comparatively few tall buildings each year: 6 in 2015, up to 19 in 2016. Whilst there may be hundreds in the pipeline, very few are actually being realised.
For the ever-crowded Leadenhall area, site of the
Gherkin, Grater and Trellis, there will be further developments. These include a redesign of controversial, half-built 22 Bishopsgate. 70 St Mary Axe is another, designed in 2008 but shelved. Now resurrected, it should be on our maps soon. We can only hope the architecture makes a more favourable impression than its nickname – ‘the can of ham’. Classy.

The Sites Spread

Much as they might try, developers can’t fit 400+ buildings into Leadenhall – they’re spreading out. Tower Hamlets has the largest number of proposed buildings. Only 8 of those proposed are over 60 floors, one of which is Tower Hamlet’s City pride. This residential building will be 75 floors and London’s tallest. Subtle it ain’t, but it’s at least simple in design. No food monikers to be found here.

Greenwich is making its mark too, coming second in proposed buildings. Simulations showing the effects should all of them be built have sparked serious outrage and demand for stricter regulations. Canary Wharf will frankly be dwarfed.

Central London is by no means the only target. In outer London, 18 tall builds are proposed in Croydon and 23 in Barnet. Clearly the capital’s clusters are spreading out. The problem is that very few are fully aware of the decisions made in their borough. Too often, planning goes through without the greater public’s knowledge.

Keeping Watch

If you want a say in the future look of your city, keep an eye on your boroughs planning proposals. No one’s yet made this an easy process, but the best way is to check out the Mayor of London’s weekly planning applications updates. Those plans referred to Khan are published here, and you can see borough by borough what’s about to change your skyline.

If you’re interested in what the city centre will be seeing in future, look out for our upcoming article on the City of London’s soon-to-be skyscrapers.

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