An optimistic market calls for 455 new tall buildings and height advancements.

Design of Leadenhall Neighbor Gets Taller

Architect WilkinsonEyre has tweaked the design of Prussian Blue (ELEVATOR WORLD, July 2015), an office tower proposed adjacent to the Leadenhall Building in London, to retain its stepped-box form but increase its height by 35 m to 220 m, The Architects’ Journal reported. Originally set to have 41,806 m2 of office space within 40 stories, the structure will now have 52,954 m2 within 50 stories. Developers Mitsubishi Estate London and Stanhope and WilkinsonEyre decided to revamp the design in light of the height of nearby proposed towers 1 Undershaft (EW, February 2016), 22 Bishopsgate (EW, June 2015) and 1 Leadenhall (EW, September 2016), which range from nearly 40 to more than 70 stories tall.

Plans for 455 Tall Buildings to Remake Skyline

The skyline of London is being made over at a rapid pace, as a record 455 new tall buildings are planned or under construction, the Financial Times reports. In 2016 alone, work began on nearly one tower per week, despite economic uncertainty brought on by the Brexit vote to leave the European Union. “There has been no Brexit downturn as yet,” said Peter Murray, chairman of New London Architecture, which carried out the survey. Many of the new towers are planned outside the existing high-rise clusters, especially along the banks of the Thames and the eastern boroughs of Greenwich and Tower Hamlets.

The explosive growth of tall buildings is not without its critics. One group, known as the Skyline Campaign, has called for the trend to be reined in to preserve the city’s “beloved character and unique identity.” Such opposition has had an impact – plans for a 72-story tower were scrapped in favor of a 14-floor office building. Still, a record 26 buildings of 20 stories or more were completed in 2016, all but two of them high-rise residential towers.