As described in the 2022 NLA London Tall Buildings Survey, the steep rise in construction costs, soaring inflation and concerns around building safety, together with more stringent tests in the 2021 London Plan, may mark a long-term tall building slow-down. Yet planning permissions have been at their highest on record and it has been another bumper year for completions. So, the panel agreed that there is a place for tall buildings which are of the best design quality, in the right location, well connected and integrated into the public realm. As the Survey is coming to its tenth anniversary, the group suggested NLA captures the legacy of tall buildings in terms of architectural design and celebrate best practice. 

 

The group discussed diverse issues of building tall, from the politics of planning and delivering affordable housing, to building safety, embodied and operational carbon, and construction cost height thresholds. We have dived deep into the fire safety issues concerning tall buildings and discussed ways to make tall buildings more accessible, safe and welcoming. But one thing was clear, the effectiveness of building high density can only be measured in longer time frames. So to make tall buildings a sustainable solution for London’s housing problem they should be adaptable to change throughout their whole life span.

 

The sustainability of tall buildings is another key aspect, especially how they sit in the context of the London Plan and other new certification regimes. The group agreed net zero carbon strategies for tall buildings should include retrofitting tall buildings where possible, if not mitigating the demolition of existing buildings on a given plot and replacing them with a new tall building through a long-term time frame. We should better communicate the benefits of a well-connected PTAL-rated tall building compared to a certified net zero building in the suburbs or rural areas, highlighting the whole-life carbon benefits of building tall.