London To Become ‘Manhattan-on-Thames’ With 600 More Skyscrapers In Pipeline
London is on course to become a “Manhattan-on-Thames” with almost 600 more planned skyscrapers set to fill gaps in its already crowded skyline, according to a new report.
The 10th annual tall buildings report from think-tank New London Architecture (NLA) finds that there are 583 tall buildings of more than 20 storeys “queuing up in the pipeline”.
That is more than twice as many as the 270 built over the past decade, according to the NLA. There have been 71 skyscrapers completed in Tower Hamlets alone over that time, more than in any other borough.
The report, London’s Growing Up: A Decade of Building Tall, says the rapid change to the capital’s once predominantly low-rise skyline “has been fuelled by burgeoning demand for office and residential space, overseas investment and a supportive planning environment”.
The NLA’s co-founder Peter Murray, said: “Tall buildings have changed the face of London substantially over the past 20 years and will continue to do so — the pipeline that NLA has tracked means there is at least 10 years’ supply that has already been defined.
“London’s population continues to grow, passing the 10 million mark at the end of this decade. We still need tall buildings and NLA will continue to keep a close watch on what’s going on.”
The report, published on Thursday, comes a week after Southwark council approved three towers in Blackfriars Road that will help create a new skyscraper “cluster” near Bankside.
