In the last few years there has been a boom in the number of high rise towers in London. However, 2020 was a trickier year due to coronavirus and a hit to confidence. But, will this continue? Or will there be another push to build more high rises in the capital? Many people think these buildings will be the only way to deliver the residential architecture London needs, especially because of the lack of space for new builds.

The stats

New data from the 2021 Tall Buildings Survey shows how difficult last year was for projects like this. According to the figures, construction began on just 24 buildings with 20 storeys or more. To put that into perspective, work began on 44 high rises like this the previous year.

As well as a drop in the number of projects getting under way, the figures show a fall in applications. In 2019 there were 107 proposals for these tall buildings. However, in 2020 there were just 78 submissions. This is a drop of over 27%.

Although there was this drop in activity, there was one more positive stat from last year. This is that local planning authorities gave permission for 72 projects. This was a 10.8% increase over the previous year (65).

A stronger second half

While there was a drop in activity over the whole year, it is important to consider that the lockdowns did not help matters. This put a stop to work on many sites and created a lot of uncertainty. However, more projects were back under way in the second half of 2020. There was also more activity in terms of new proposals.

There will likely be more and more proposals for these high rise projects in 2021 and beyond. Increasingly, apartments in these towers will become one of the most common types of residential architecture London has. They will increase the density of housing in the city and change the skyline. However, there is really no other option due to the lack of space and more important need to preserve green spaces.

Suburbs

Interesting, more and more of these high rises are outside of Central London. In fact, suburban areas in the east and south seem to be far more receptive of the projects. There is typically more resistance to them in the west. As a result, it can be trickier to create enough new housing in this part of the capital.

Ask us about residential architecture in London

Coffey Architects is a team that understands how important it is to create high quality homes. We take on projects across London, other parts of the UK, and overseas, working to deliver housing that people love. If you have a project in mind, we would love to help you.

So, contact us if you have questions about anything from creating a proposal for a new high rise to renovating an existing property.