London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone today launched his interim guidance on tall buildings, the week before the public inquiry into Gerald Ronson’s plans for a tower in the City of London.
The guidance will form the basis of the mayor’s approach to tall buildings prior to the publication of the London Plan in 2002.
The guidance supports the construction of skyscrapers to “safeguard and enhance London’s World City role” but it includes strict “quality control” restrictions.
The Mayor’s design criteria for tall buildings include:
- Elevations to be varied and interesting
- The tops of buildings to be “well articulated”
- Improvement to the appearance of a tower cluster, or act as an appropriate landmark for a locations, such as town centres or railway interchanges
- The ground levels to be largely accessible to the public
- Materials to be appropriate to their settings
- The surrounding public realm to be capable of handling pedestrian movement
- Wind impact to be within acceptable limits
Livingstone said: “There is a clear demand for office space of this kind, as demonstrated by the coming forward of new tall buildings with existing planning permission in Canary Wharf and a handful in other areas across London. These guidelines will give all those involved or affected greater certainty of the criteria I’ll be applying to the applications that come before me for decision.
“By providing a range of office space solutions, at different locations and heights, architectural styles and rents, London can continue to attract investment over its European and international competitors. As well as displaying our confidence in our city’s future, the right sort of interesting and beautiful tall buildings can add a value and dynamism to London’s skyline that Londoners and visitors to our capital can enjoy.”
The guidance also calls for the ten strategic views across London to be reassessed. The Mayor has said that the public should be consulted on the relevance of these protected views, and asked if other, middle-distance views should be protected.
The Mayor said that he expected between 10 and 15 very tall buildings to be constructed in London in the next decade, mainly in East London, the City, City fringes and the Isle of Dogs.
The month long inquiry into the planned 37-storey Heron Tower, which has become the focus for the tall towers debate, begins on Tuesday.
Heron, Mayor Livingstone, the Corporation of London and CABE will present evidence to support the application, while English Heritage, the City of Westminster and other heritage groups will argue that it is inappropriate.
EGi News 18/10/01
