Our project at Earls Court illustrates how tall buildings can balance city-wide impact with local responsibility 

 

There is an inherent responsibility when building tall; these buildings leave a mark on the skyline, forming a silhouette that adds to many people's experiences of a city. 

The vertical expression is often the heroic element of a tall building, earning its own headline-grabbing nickname from public opinion. But does this focus on the skyline limit the conversation about the quality of London’s tall buildings? And how do we ensure that there is an intrinsic quality and thoughtfulness that runs from top to bottom of high-rise developments? 

These questions can be answered, in part, by looking at The Earls Court Development Company's plans to transform the former Exhibition Centres site. The ambition for the vacant site is to create a multigenerational neighbourhood with c. 4,000 new homes, a community hub and cultural venues that are all embedded within 20 acres of public realm and green space. 

In the case of Earls Court, there is both intense responsibility and great opportunities. We've had to grapple with questions such as, how can a residential building be civic-minded, blurring the hard lines between resident and public spaces? How can a building be part of a park and not just located near or in it? Why are these questions important when creating a desirable place to live? 

Our building at Earls Court sits in phase 1 of the development and is located at a central nodal point in the masterplan. As the tallest building, it has a duty to act as a beacon of the wider development's ambition, transforming the dormant former Exhibition Centres site into a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood. 

New tall buildings in London often join and enhance an established city fabric, referring to their immediate tall building neighbours and considering the established massing context and character. Unusually for London, our new building at Earls Court will not sit within an established cluster of tall buildings and will emerge as a prominent feature on the London skyline prior to the arrival of the wider development. 

This context places greater responsibility on delivering a beautiful, memorable silhouette on the London skyline. This is helped by a petal-shaped plan, developed to optimise dual-aspect homes and designed from the inside out to deliver high-quality living spaces bathed in natural daylight, maximising ventilation and views. The petal configuration allows us to create an efficient plan and, importantly, results in a slender elevation through the body of the building, creating a strong identity. 

While a tall building's city context is important, we also need a broader conversation about what makes an excellent tall building, especially in London - one that considers the grounding of the building in its cultural and social setting. This offers the greatest opportunity to impact a neighbourhood and ensure that, when building tall, it is done with care and consideration. Tall buildings often enable the landscape below to flourish, and can facilitate a mix of spaces for all to enjoy. 

At Earls Court, our 42-storey residential building includes a generous podium base that connects to the 'Cascades', a series of new public spaces, linked by the movement of water. This overarching expression is then reflected in the building's Cascading Waterfall concept. References to water are created through glazed bays and reflective metal tubes, giving the building an iridescent quality in different light conditions, and furthering the sense of its 'grounding' in situ. 

While Earls Court has unique characteristics, there are ideas from the project that we can apply to many other sites. In particular, how can the lower floors of tall buildings help create a place that people want to visit through inspiring architecture, inviting landscape and a mix of uses? A tall building can be generous to its neighbours, grounded with cafes and restaurants, co-working, and even healthcare and education facilities, all designed to complement the arrival experience. This range of spaces can be stitched together through the public realm strategy, creating a human scale and openness that erodes the often-perceived intimidating nature of tall buildings. 

The social and community benefits of opening up the base of tall buildings are clear, but it also makes commercial sense. Whether you work in an office building in the City or live in a residential building in Earls Court, people increasingly want to feel part of the city and communities in which they are located. The right mix of private and public amenities can create an experience that is bustling and significantly impacts a development's identity and desirability. 

The conversation about tall buildings is more nuanced than the notion that every tower should have a strong civic identity. Earls Court is a unique context, set within a 4.5-acre new park for London, and we would have had a very different design response to, say, an infill site in central London. Not every tall building needs to have a memorable silhouette or a permeable base with shared public uses, but I think we should always be asking: what civic responsibilities does a tall building have? 

Every site for a tall building will present its own distinct urban challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities. While engaging with these, I think we should keep in mind that all levels of a building have potential for innovation. By considering the impact, not just on its residents but the public too, we will achieve a new genre of tall buildings; ones with carefully layered urban identities and which create meaningful connections to their local setting and people. 

Postscript 

At the end of 2025, the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea resolved to grant planning permission for the Earls Court development. Details of the s106 are now being negotiated, before the application is referred to the Mayor of London for stage 2 consideration, after which the planning permissions will be issued.