NLA’s latest report on tall buildings shows that demand for Grade A office space in the City of London continues to shape new development. At the same time, London’s regulatory landscape is rapidly evolving, with whole-life carbon assessments and net-zero ambitions reframing how high-rise developments must perform. In addition, perceptions around high-quality office environments continue to prioritise comfortable, daylight-rich environments. 

In terms of rethinking tall buildings through a lifecycle lens, façade design and manufacturing are central to this challenge - façades account for roughly 20% of a building's overall embodied carbon impact and are critical to ongoing performance. Therefore our R&D experts are constantly working to innovate in this field - to reduce embodied carbon in construction, create high-performance buildings with minimal energy demand, and design adaptability into skyscrapers. 

Material innovation is critical to this transition, in particular the move towards low-carbon glass and aluminium. As is embracing The City of London Corporation’s Circular Economy Framework, and we have commissioned specialist research in partnership with Dutch Technical University, TU Delft, to explore how the façade industry can embed circular principles in refurbishment projects. Our 2025 market research suggests that, encouragingly, over 70% of the market would consider façade reuse, along with the clear need to demonstrate improved performance, sufficient service life, and warranty. 

Within our specialist FaçadeCare team, we have gained the knowledge and skills to assess the quality of façades on site, to provide these assurances, and to help building owners face difficult decisions around façade replacement or refurbishment, and in London, we have some great examples of this. At One Triton Square, we temporarily removed and cleaned the external double skin, showing that unitised curtain wall panels can be safely dismantled from a building, and put back again, extending the building’s life-span, and avoiding the need for demolition. And as we take part in the refurbishment of the Citi Tower (25 Canada Square) in Canary Wharf, one of the largest commercial office retrofit projects in Europe, we are pleased to be using this project to feed into our ongoing R&D work around circularity in tall buildings. 

Crucially, we are also evolving our Closed Cavity Façade (CCF) technology – first developed by our engineers in Germany – which has been used to realise many of our façade projects across London. This includes 22 Bishopsgate, one of the largest CCF projects in the world, multiple buildings across the International Quarter, Stratford Cross, where architects have introduced texture, colour, and articulation through elements such as fins, and 50 Fenchurch Street, which is on track to become one of the capital’s lowest carbon tall buildings. 

Made of two layers of glass with a sealed clean air space between, and integrated blinds, CCF offers dynamic solar shading and lowers operational carbon emissions, while requiring minimal maintenance. Our newly launched Slimline CCF technology is nearly half the thickness of traditional CCF, and with integrated blinds at just 25mm in depth is comparable to a single-skin façade, bringing with it reduced material use. In addition, advanced coatings reduce heat gain, limit blind use, and improve daylight access, all while allowing developers to maximise net lettable area. 

Another significant development is that these façade units can be replaced or reglazed from inside the building, fundamentally changing how tall buildings can be maintained and upgraded. As well as avoiding large external scaffolding, minimising disruption to surrounding streets, and overcoming access challenges in dense urban sites, by enabling easier replacement and upgrade of façade units, Slimline CCF eases the retrofit and adaptive reuse of tall buildings, reducing whole-life carbon impact. 

Tall buildings will continue to play a vital role in London’s future, but they must stay ahead of expectations around sustainability, performance, and adaptability. By embracing lifecycle thinking, innovations in façade design and manufacture can help to lead this transformation, and to create a smarter and greener generation of skyscrapers.