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onskyline

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The new London skyline features tall buildings, from left to right, like the Gherkin, the Cheesegrater, the Walkie Talkie, and the Shard.

– 60,000 units a year. In the dense city center, that means towers. And the London Tall Buildings Survey , issued in March, points squarely at the emerging residential market. Of the 436 tall buildings in the pipeline, 85 percent are from 20 to 39 stories, and 73 percent are for residential use. “They are building them as cheaply as possible. The details and materials are shoddy. … These are the slums of the future.” Peter Murray, chairman of New London Architecture, the agency that authored the report in partnership with GL Hearn, says there’s a way to make sure the necessary hous- ing gets built – towers as well as the mid-risers mentioned by Weiss – without ruining the city. Murray proposes a 3-D rendering of all London so that developers, planners, and the public at large have a strong visual understanding of what a tower would look like on the front end, not on the back end, when it’s too late. The problem is, the citywide 3-D rendering does not yet ex- ist. “It’s quite expensive and that’s what [Sadiq Khan] is hesi- tant about,” Murray says. Besides, Khan is under intense pressure to deliver afford- able housing before saving the London skyline. “After he gets around to the first [problem], he’ll get around to the second [problem],” Murray says. London, of course, is not the only city dealing with the vola- tile mix of a housing shortage and a tsunami of foreign dol- lars. Referencing similar phenomenon in New York, Sydney, and Vancouver, Murray says, “The international markets like towers.” And it’s the international question that looms large for the

Tower Bridge, one of London’s most recognizable landmarks, now shares the skyline with, among others, the Gherkin, the Cheesegrater, and the Walkie Talkie.

The Razor, winner of the 2010 Carbuncle Cup as the ugliest building in the U.K.

See LONDON SKYLINE, page 8

ober 17, 2016, ISSUE 1172

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