There are 250 ‘tall buildings’ currently either under construction or awaiting approval in locations across London…and a computer simulation has revealed what the London skyline would look like if these plans all go ahead. The mock up shows areas in south London, including Battersea and Greenwich to face the most dramatic changes, while dozens of skyscrapers are set to be built around Blackfriars Bridge, and large-scale construction work to take place along the South Bank, obscuring the views of many of the buildings already there.
[DailyMail]Our thoughts on this matter? More tall buildings are exactly what London needs. NOT! And 250 of them? Excessive much? Where the hell are they all going to go? And exactly how disruptive are the building works going to be? (Our bets are on very). Only last month plans for a 72-storey high-rise in Paddington were criticised by one of Britain’s leading architects Sir Terry Farrell, who described the scheme as “opportunistic” and “piecemeal”. Hear hear! So it’s not just us, then?
[Daily Mail]BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ visual reconstruction confirmed our worst fears. It ain’t pretty. It’s not gonna be cheap. And honestly, there doesn’t seem to be much point to them. Former City of London chief planning officer Professor Peter Rees stated that “if you’re going to change the skyline of a city it’s important to consider what the buildings are for“. Yes, we’d agree. And we’d hope that they had. And ultimately come up with something useful. Yes, surely they would! Oh no, wait…“It would be fine it you were building office towers that people are going to be working in that will boost the economy. I take great exception to them building piles of safety deposit boxes simply for rich Russians and Chinese to stash their cash.” WHAT THE…?
