Up we go! 76 high-rise projects get the nod in just two years

DEVELOPERS are planning to build scores of new tall buildings across London over the next few years in a remarkable skyscraper boom that shows no sign of slowing.

- Jonathan Prynn and Prudence Ivey

From the City to the suburbs, towers of at least 20 storeys — the industry definition of a tall building — are going up at a pace that has huge implications for the capital’s skyline for decades, if not centuries, to come.

The “race for space” in the sky is being driven by London’s chronic shortage of new housing, and modern, sustainable office space, as well as the high price of land and green belt planning restrictions. But it has also alarmed some conservation and heritage groups and led to calls for Sadiq Khan to use his planning powers to do more to block schemes not of the highest quality.

Figures compiled for the Standard by data consultants Glenigan show that 230 high-rise projects of 20 storeys or more have been granted detailed consent since 2017 — including 76 in the past two years alone, at a rate of more than three a month. Separate figures from New London Architecture reveal a similar picture, with the number of applications or consents for developments with at least one tall tower included in them growing from 31 in 2021 to 58 in 2022.