Standing the Test of Time: Best Practice Lessons from London’s Tall Buildings

Tuesday 11 March 2025

Partner
Allies and Morrison

Standing the Test of Time: Best Practice Lessons from London’s Tall Buildings

Two Fifty One - Allies and Morrison

In the lead up to our Tall Buildings conference, we hear from the Chair of NLA’s Tall Buildings Expert Panel, Joanna Bacon, who shares an update on the panel’s work over the last year. The panel has investigated how old and new tall buildings have performed against a list of specific criteria, aligning with the New London Agenda and how they are positively contributing to the city’s wider public realm.

Last year, NLA’s Tall Buildings Report highlighted how key buildings across the city intended to “create areas of energy, growth and change”. Additionally, the report notes how London’s tall buildings have contributed to the densification of our city, however, there is a shortfall in optimising sites to give back to the community. This includes the need for more thought on how tall buildings connect with the ground, the public, and local communities directly. The panel highlights a belief that these buildings should actively bring social value and social inclusivity.

In an effort to align further with the New London Agenda, over the last year the Tall Buildings Panel have focused on how these buildings are directly experienced within the city. The challenge set for the NLA Tall Buildings Expert Panel was to visit and analyse these values and make a selection of tall building projects that we felt exemplified the above metrics, and delivered ‘good’ quality projects or positive impacts across two key sectors: New Build Residential and Office (completed and occupied more than 12 months) and Test of Time Residential and Office (completed and occupied more than 10 year ago).

To assess these buildings, we set performance criteria, to align with the New London Agenda, to consider and then debate the developments:

Public realm contribution: Does the development of the public realm’s place demonstrate opportunities for engagement with the community?
Quality: Does the accommodation create homes that people want to form communities within, for example, do they have a balcony or generous living space?
Technology: Has it taken advantage of modern forms of construction to minimise local disruption, deliver homes more efficiently, and is it in line with planning approval?
Sustainability: Is the building(s) designed for longevity? Are they robust and fully occupied?
Economic accessibility: Does the development deliver a range of affordable models?

The proposition of reviewing these buildings included not only studying them ourselves, but also collecting feedback from multiple stakeholders with the ambition to reconsider our perception of tall buildings and the spaces they create in the city.

The studies have now been completed, and what we found included some very successful spaces that have been flexible over time; a few were poorly maintained or ‘cluttered’ but most create opportunities for improved engagement in the city.

We found that most of the buildings over 20 years old have withstood the test of time. Most of them have undergone public realm ‘retrofits’, bolted on new management, better lighting, and active frontages, having learnt lessons in the intervening years. When the original building had ‘good bones’, the improvement or renewal appeared to have had greater impact, but occasionally a few retrofit schemes appeared to lack cohesion with the original design.

Consistent themes included:

Modern interventions giving positive new energy to tall buildings over twenty years old.
Landlords increasingly set high standards within the public realm for their tenants. Some are almost having to ‘out amenity each other’ to attract higher value.
Poor wind conditions continue to give tall buildings a longer-term poor reputation
New developments are generally increasing capacity for people – enlarging pavements and opening up new public realm places with positive amenities for the general public
Restaurants and high-level public access places are popular, however, this should not remove the responsibility for excellent public realm or good interfaces at street level
Seasonal activity is welcomed to attract visitors
Privileged space is still sought by some occupiers – with some management positively encouraging the public not to dwell to create exclusivity, including through overpowering security
Shared servicing between buildings or smart logistics can positively improve the impact of delivery areas on the public realm

The panel found that these trends advocate for more activity and democratic access to the spaces associated with tall buildings, and we have found positive examples where tall buildings positively enhance the experience of the city. Indeed, what would London think if you took the Shard away!

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Jo Bacon

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Allies and Morrison

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