If you asked most regular Joes on the street, “What does London need more of?”, chances are that the answer skyscrapers would come pretty far down the list.
But, it looks like there are nearly 583 of them planned for London’s skyline, primed to morph that view we all enjoy from Primrose Hill, for better or worse.
According the 2022 Tall Building survey, which is an annual publication by New London Architecture, there are 109 skyscrapers currently being built, 341 that have received the green light, and 71 that have partial planning permission.
All these building are set to be 20 storeys or higher, and all of them in place would completely transform London’s skyline. The number, however, is actually down from last year’s total which was 587. There are seven tall buildings listed in the number that have actually stalled in construction, showing a lot can change in these large-scale architecture projects.
Nevertheless, the number still remains a sizable one to say the least, and if all the builds came to fruition, would see skyscrapers popping up all over the city, from White City to Elephant and Castle and beyond.
In the last year, the rate of approval for new skyscrapers hit its peak, with 98 being greenlit — a 21 per cent increase from 2020’s recordings. However, the number of new applicants for the giant buildings has experienced a drop every year since 2018.
Will London have 583 skyscrapers in the near future? It’s unlikely, but should that number ever come to fruition, we could be looking at a very different skyline from the capital’s vantage points.
Read the survey in full here.