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English Heritage have decided not to oppose what will be the City of London's tallest building if built, the Minerva Tower for St Boltophs House. The ambitious building group who have recently made moves towards buying Allders department stores have applied for planning permission for a tower of roughly 215m. It was feared that E.H would oppose this and demand it would get called in for a public inquiry as they were concerned about it rising behind the Tower of London which is a world heritage site.
Thanks to a well planned p.r campaign, support from the planning body CABE plus some useful renderings which show minimum intrusion English Heritage seem to have realised that there is little grounds to get this tower called in for yet another public inquiry and have now offered it their support, a move that was welcomed by CABE but has taken some observers by surprise given the organisation's previous reputation which in the past has almost bordered on pettiness with regards to major planning decisions.
Hopefully this marks a turning point for the powers that be at English Heritage and we will see them adopting more of this concillatory position in the future. What it certainly marks is the certain approval of Minerva's tower in the early new year by the planning authorities.

Birmingham looks set to get a new tower with release of renderings for a proposal off Colmore Row. Colmore Tower at 95m to the roof and 110m to the spire it is one of a growing range of towers of a similar height that has been proposed as Birmingham council continues to push it's ambitious high-rise plans despite the relative failure of Arena Central which has been substantially reduced in height.
This new tower is planned to provide offices and should present a clear peak in the skyline thanks to its spire. The situation in Birmingham clearly is not as depressing as some people like to make out.

EXCLUSIVE - What was to be Leeds first skyscraper, Bridgewater Place, has run into major trouble with the withdrawl of Bovis from the group of firms responsible for its development. The 137m tall tower was supposed to start construction any day now following the clearing of the site but in a disagreement between St James Securities and Landmark Developments on one side and Bovis and their subcontractors on the other the project has now been put on hold.
The dispute centers around a £5million reduction in costs demanded by St James and Landmark, something that Bovis are insistent is impossible given the high quality of the building. Our source who has been studying the building for some time tells us that it is impossible to do for any less due to the high specification given in the planning permission and that the firms who have been subcontracted work have pulled their files on the building. More omniously none of the involved parties nor Leeds council will make any comment.

EXCLUSIVE - The Grand Union Building at Paddington has started construction after approval earlier this year by the planning authorities in Westminster. The tower which consists of a series of interlinked blocks each stepping down gradually from a pinnacle of 31 has been designed by Lord Rogers of Lloyds fame and is his tallest building to date at 132m and will also be the borough's tallest skyscraper topping the record that Millbank Tower has held for 40 odd years.
Down the road at Paddington Central two of the 14 floor office blocks are now topped out whilst most of the residential towers for the area are approaching completion and groundwork has started on the St Mary's Hospital which will be 55m. A questionmark still hangs over the Station Tower which will be 110m with no work on site so far and no-one sure when it will start but it looks likely this will be the last phase of this massive project.
The office downturn that London has scene lately doesn't seem to be affecting the Grand Union area with Orange, Marks and Spencers and Visa all moving into office space as tenants and the property prices of the area soaring. Presumably the NIMBYs who were previously hostile to this development are now rubbing their hands with glee and thanking their lucky stars they were wrong.

Norman Foster's Swiss RE building, aka the Gherkin, was topped out last week in an impressive lightshow attended by London's Mayor Ken Livingstone.Many people assumed that building work had appeared to be delayed as the top was assembled offsite and then placed on the top of the skyscraper, something that has happened all through the construction to maximise the effectiveness of a site which is tiny.
The entire building was lit in green and blue lights with splashes of purple, something of an odd given the colours of the companies who will be occupying it - Swiss Reinsurance and the recently announced tenant Lloyds TSB. It will be interesting to see how the building is lit on completition given the imaginative lighting of it's neighbours Lloyds of London and Tower 42.
External completion of the building is now only a couple of months away as the cladding is well over half way up the building and every floor gets smaller.
The building is set to open in 2004 with public access to what has been billed by the press as London's tallest restaurant over 500ft up, although the people at Tower 42 whose Vertigo restaurant and bar is on the 42nd floor might disagree with this.
Thankfully the upsetting rumours that S-Club 7 were to play at the toppping out ceremony were not true.

EXCLUSIVE - A first look at the new Norman Foster proposed 4th Grace for the Liverpool waterfront called the Ark. With a design that can only be described as completely stunning, Foster has envisaged a hull of a ship in glass front by what appears to be a bow, with a massive 36floor tower rising from the rear like a bridge. If it goes ahead it will be Liverpool's first 500 foot/150m+ tall building.
The ground podium is particularly impressive although I'm sure many reservations will be made by locals and conservation bodies about its relative height compared to the existing three graces. I'm also surprised that it lacks a central tower and has the tower set back from the water instead of the tower placed further forward, something that is inconsistent with the Three Graces.
This proposal is only one of many by the U.Ks leading architects and it's good to see the high standard of entries. Others competing for the project include long-time Foster rival Richard Rogers as well as dayglo loving Will Alsop although im willing to bet this martitime inspired one will have the edge. SN.com will be publishing a special report on the exhibition next week.

Stephen Bell architects have won support from the advisory body CABE with their new proposal for a 32 floor residential tower on the banks of the Tyne. The Eastside Tower at over 100m (327ft) tall the building will be the tallest in Newcastle by some margin and despite the record breaking height has been broadly welcomed.
CABE did criticise the project on a number of issues such as public access to the top for which they believed a solution could be found to allow the public to enjoy the spectacular views the building will offer as well as the positioning of the low-rise multi-use podium which they felt could have been better designed in relation to the position of the river and the relief of the land.
Despite this though, things are definitely looking up for Newcastle as this and the proposed 29 floor Gallowgate Tower come closer to construction.

Docklands seems to be experiencing a second boom now as the residential market heats up all over the country. With Ballymore having wet their toes in the market with with enormous sucess at New Providence Wharf, and an underwhelming response to their Millenium Quarter office projects alternative plans have been issued for both 1 Millharbour and Arrowhead Quay.
The new plans for the projects will include a whopping 1048 residential units comprising of one 24 floor residentials at 1 Millharbour plus 46floor office tower (approx 700ft tall), a 35 storey (approx 500ft tall) residential skyscraper at Arrowhead Quay and a 14 floor office building fronting onto Marshwall.
SMKC also plan a residential tower on West India Quay alongside the under-construction Mariott Hotel of approximately 50floors (approx 600ft tall) which they are determined to build as soon as planning permssion is granted with market conditions having no bearing on the timescale.
This comes ontop of the immenient approval of St Georges Wharf tower at Vauxhall. Until now, all of London's real skyscrapers (over 500ft+) have been office buildings but this signals a new trend. Thanks to the ever rising property prices, plus developers and occupiers overcoming a fear of tall residential buildings it seems that the London skyline is now set to ape that of every other major city in the world with some high-rise condos.

The University of Manchester is continuing the creeping privatisation of the higher education system with the planned demolition of many of it's towers which make up a substantial part of the Manchester skyline. Those towers that are scheduled for demolition are Owens Park Tower, Moberly Hall with another four slated for possible demolition housing over 600 students.
The plan is to introduce low density student housing onto the campus and cut back room numbers to students obviously forcing them to the private sector and more expensive housing. Private developers will be brought in to build new halls.
The UMIST tower is also up for sale as the university takes advantage of the £32million pounds per acre landprice the newspapers have been talking about. That this price was an extreme and not mirrored in surrounding areas seems to be lost on the university authorities but the lure of money thanks to Whitworth being a main residential corridor of Manchester seems too much for them.

An immenient decision is expected on St Georges Wharf Tower in Vauxhall by Lambeth council, which at 590ft/180m tall makes it easily the tallest residential tower in the U.K. The tower which is a one of a series of "eco-towers" has been submitted for planning permission having been given a generally warm reception by CABE. An approval looks like likely given the location of the site and various governmental advice on tall buildings in the area. More importantly though this proposal should open the floodgate of similar sized residential towers which haven't been seen before thanks to the massive demands of the housing market.

EXCLUSIVE - Cardiff is going to see another high-rise development as the growing trend for building tall apartment blocks catches on nationwide. Known as the Altolusso, formerly known as Scholars Place, and named after the Italian word for "high luxury" construction is expected to start immeniently. The design by McCann and Partners combines a 60s futuristic style and a penthouse "cockpit" with the more traditional looking former Cardiff New College into the facade at the ground. With 292flats, 22floors and towering at 245ft tall it is set to be Cardiff's third tallest building complete with stunning views across the city.

One of the areas zoned by Government for future high-rise development, Kings Cross, is to finally see some action with the property developer Argent unveiling their ambitious plans for what has been a run down but central area of London for many years. In conjunction with their partners St George and London Continental Railways they have aquired a 72acre site for mixed use projects in the vein of Paddington Basin which will include areas for residential, retail and offices. The initial stage of planning shows buildings on the site are planned to range from 8-25+ floors although with the central location of Kings Cross and the lack of height restrictions they will potentially go higher as the site becomes more in demand.

A Birmingham consortium eager to cash in on the success of the London Eye have proposed the Birmingham Eye, an enormous ferris wheel close to the city's Millenium Point. Billed by the developers Drayton Park Manor as what will be the world's tallest at 145m, they claim it will be an enormous success like it's London counterpart providing a massive boost in tourism to the whole of the West Midlands. These claims seem over the top to say the least given the success of the London Eye is as much down to it's location next to the tourist hotspot of London as its height, whilst other cities including Las Vegas and Shanghai have plans to build taller wheels Birmingham cannot remain the record holder for very long.

Clarence Dock, a proposed 21 floor residential tower for Leeds has been given outline planning permission by the local council following an application by the developers although the rendering shows a tower of 24 floors suggesting that the scheme has since been increased in height following the growing demand in the high-rise residential sector.
Either way, after lagging far behind both Manchester and Birmingham England's third city now shows signs of it's ambitions with projects like this and the 133m tall Bridgewater Place.

News and elevation drawings have leaked about the Richard Rogers planned tower for 122 Leadenhall Street which is is set to be the one of the tallest buildings in the new flood of proposals for the city if it goes ahead. The current estimates place the tower height at 215m to roof and 234m to tip making it just short of One Canada Square's current record. With 48 floors the tower contains all the classic bits of Rogers styling including semi transparent fascades with visible floors, lifts going up the outside of the building, and the techno crown. In fact it's even been nicknamed 'thunderbird' by the press, presumably for its science fiction-like appearance although we prefer 'cheesegrater'. The tower will also contain public gardens in the bottom of it which will lead into the lobby which show another positive step forwards in opening up the cramped streets of the City.
Planning permission is set to be applied for before the end of the year, with few expected problems due not interfering with any sight-lines and to it's proximity to an area already zoned for highrise - it will be literally over the road from Lloyds of London and the 58 Building, and only a stone's throw from the Swiss Re Building - which makes approval by the authorities almost certain. Despite all the promising signs the tower is unlikely to see construction start until 2004 at the earliest.

EXCLUSIVE - After a year of legal wrangling the proposed tower at 168 Fenchurch Street looks go again following the submission of a planning application and subsequent decision by the Mayor on the site which has approved the project pending a decision by the Corporation of London. The tower which will be rising to 144m tall, on the end of Fenchurch Street. What's so amazing is that the developer Churchill Securities do not own the site, and it has been redeveloped into a poor standard low-rise building by Marks and Spencers that has remained unoccupied since it was finished. Presumably Churchill are still confident that M+S will part with the site and movement on this one will be starting very soon.

EXCLUSIVE - The much maligned project for Lots Road has run into more trouble following a rejection of the latest proposals by the Mayor of London's planning department. The project plans to build 866 new homes on the deserted brownfield site of Lots Road Powerstation, the site will include two towers of 98m and 70m if it goes ahead. The concerns for the project however are not based around the design but rather the insistence of Chelsea and Kensington council that the traffic load on the surrounding area will be too much despite Hammermith and Fulham having no problems, we should also bare in mind that it is not the fault of the developers that the surrounding infrastructure is so bad although clearly in this case the NIMBYs are out in force. It's interesting to see that amongst the organisations who oppose the project is the Chelsea Harbour residents association which itself contains a tower and was the 80s equivalent and is 77m tall.

EXCLUSIVE - Canary Wharf is set to expand immeniently with the planning application for the major new development Riverside South, although the reports in some sunday newspapers about buildings going up at Northquay too are wrong - we understand that Northquay is at an early stage of development whilst Riverside South's plans are now well advanced although it's nice to see the Rumour Mongers news about Pelli for North Quay confirmed.
These two twin towers which SN.com announced were in design last year will lay directly infront of Heron Quays when viewed from the Thames, the tallest of them will be 47floors and just short in height of the 237m of 1 Canada Square.
We are told that the choice for twin towers was taken only after a plan for one very large tower was explored and rejected because the Jubilee line extention cuts through the middle of the site and the weight of a single tower would be too much for the line to handle, hence the need to split the development in two.
The construction of the towers will see that the project is split into staggered blocks with the core in the center of each block. The front of the project which borders on the Thames is staggered with enclaves to project the lower levels from the ravages of the wind and weather on typical rainy days, whilst the podium that links the two towers together exists specifically to protect pedestrians who will be using the extensive retail outlets that are planned for the area.

EXCLUSIVE - Tomorrow the Department of Transport London and the Regions publishes a key report on the future of tall buildings in the U.K, and in particular London. It's understood that the report is supportive of skyscrapers and there are several major issues that the report centers on.

• They're an essential part of the urban renaissance that many British cities are now experiencing, think of Manchester and the move towards rejuvenating the City center.
• They are needed to curb urban sprawl and preserve the green-belt. London in particular is circled by the green-belt and if we are to protect our greenfields we must have higher density housing.
  
• Many older tall buildings are badly designed and blight their surroundings with overshadowing, wind tunnels and larges service bays. Centerpoint is a case in point of HOW not to build a tall building, there must be a better exchange of planning gain between the public and private sectors to not repeat these mistakes.
  
• The mistakes of the past must not be repeated but we shouldnt put this off us building tall buildings in the right locations. Developers need to cluster buildings and contribute more to the surroundings of their buildings.

It's not all good though, on the negative side the report says that -

• Transport links in our major cities are not currently sufficient to hold major increases in capacity that density brings along and could be overloaded, which is typical really blaming tall buildings for the fault of the transport system, no mention is made of the crosscity reductions in travel journeys that clustering can bring.
• It is not essential to have tall buildings in London for it to maintain its position as a major financial center as there are many other reasons that companies do business in London, but there is little attention paid to the massive under-capacity of the rental business market and resulting large rents that companies in London have to pay that are now the highest in the world and which seriously undermine competitiveness.

There really only confirms what is already common sense and being applied throughout London by the Mayors office, although there are several major flaws in the report that fly in the face of what everyone else is saying, presumably as the DTLR has split interests between London and the Transport system.
You can read more about what SN.com had to say on this report on the BBC news website by clicking here.

EXCLUSIVE - Wembley Stadium is to officially get the goahead next week following the completion of deals between the Football Association and the german bank offering them funding. The financing which is understood to be to the tune of some £500million pounds will guarantee the completion of the project which has been much delayed.
Initially put out for national tender by the government in the name of keeping up appearances of regional fairness despite the Football Association committing themselves and lottery money to the redevelopment of the current Wembley, the project has been dogged by indecision ever since with much political backbiting over whether to add an athletics track too.
With 90,000 seats and a retractable roof it will be one of the largest capacity football stadiums in the world, the sheer scale of which is almost twice the size of the current Wembley. Towering over it will be a 133m tall floodlit arch making it the worlds tallest stadium clearly showing the aspirations of architect Norman Foster to rival the famous twin towers as an icon.

EXCLUSIVE - Richard Rogers has started designing a cluster of towers to be located next to the planned new Wembley Stadium. The masterplan for the site includes a number of towers which are set to be a mixture of office, leisure, and residential including affordable housing of at least 20floors each, which translates into a minimum height of 200feet. With the arch of Wembley and the existing tower it looks like North London is set to get a mini cluster all of it's own in the not too distant future.

Kings Reach Tower, the much maligned brown 70s creation of Richard Siefort that stands on the Southbank is set to be reclad and refitted when the rent agreement with the current occupiers Time Warner runs out to give it a more up to date look. Despite rumours this will not include an increase in height, given the sensitive location of the tower next to the Oxo Tower and visible from Waterloo. Clearly the owners of 60s and 70s towers are now having to compete with London's latest architectural pretty young things in the lookstakes, something that's more than welcome.

EXCLUSIVE - The much rumoured planned tower by Great Portland Estates at 80 Bishopsgate has been revealed to be real with the site of the latest planned skyscraper for the City and is set to be approximately 850ft tall and 50floors, which will make it the tallest skyscraper planned for the area. With smaller floorplates it is likely to appeal to prestigous law and accountancy firms rather than large banks. It's location makes it perfect for a tall building as it obscures no protected sightlines and is virtually opposite the recently approved 110 Bishopsgate so the chances of the heritage authorities ever being able to stop it are zero.
Expect construction to start in time for the next property cycle which if we are right will be 2004.

EXCLUSIVE - As the last tennant is leaving the much argued about Bishopsgate Goodsyard the way has been cleared for the planned redevelopment. The site which is the home to some very old railway arches was bombed heavily in World War 2, suffering large fire damage and has laid largely empty since. English Heritage have been opposing the project because they say the arches are historical monuments, however supporters of the scheme say EH are driven by their malice towards tall buidlings.
Despite this a raillink to the east-end of London is planned to terminate there whilst EH have shown signs of backing down, saying that they will not oppose buildings that are built over the arches.
Judith Mayhew of the Corporation of London has said that the site will contain three towers of 60-65 stories and reassured heritage bodies by saying they won't be over 1000ft tall, despite that assurance they look like being whoppers. With that number of floors, theyd be anything up to 900ft however a source has told us that any towers are likely to be built away from the arches on the far side of the site and will not reach anything near that height.
As well as listed arches the site is further complicated by being split between both Hackney and Tower Hamlets councils, which makes planning matters more difficult but clearly the City is on the rampage having lost so many companies to Canary Wharf in the past and are determined not to make the same mistakes again.

Some bad news, the planned slanting 20degree tower for Ropermaker Place has been sadly shelved, although the developers Helical Bar are still looking at making a tower on the site. It's unclear exactly why this has happened, the design perhaps was unfeasible, slanting towers supporting that amount of height are unknown in the world, although the real issue might have been the viewpoints from north London of St Pauls being obscured. A tower of perhaps 450ft would be more likely for this spot and wouldn't encounter any planning problems. Meanwhile the owners of the neighbouring site at Milton Court are also planning a tower which looks likely to be roughly the same height.

Well it's hardly surprising but London Bridge Tower has been called in for a public inquiry following the constant hostile attacks by members of the right-wing press and heritage bodies and is set to start sitting in September. This is despite last weeks P.I into the Heron Tower ruling infavour of the proposal and English Heritage admitting they didn't have convincing enough arguments.
The issues that will be examined are whether London Bridge Tower affects the Tower of London which is located across the Thames and from which English Heritage claim it will be visible. They also argue that LBT will be "a spike through the London skyline" because it is too tall and is "inhuman". See for yourself here to decide for yourself if they are right.
There are plenty of arguments in favour though and with the outstanding design on show in LBT, the public investments the project is making, and the commitment of the developer to honour the current designs it looks very likely that the public inquiry will rule in favour of the project.

The developers of 6-8 Bishopsgate Tishman Speyer have a scheduled meeting this week following the approval of 110 Bishopsgate by the Secretary of State. Designed by Murphy Jahn and set to be 820ft/250m tall it will be the tallest building proposed yet in the City if the developers decide to go ahead, lets hope that the current cyclical downtown in the market won't put them off, if they do goahead then planning permission is almost certain to be given.

The world's largest ferris wheel, the London Eye has taken another step towards becoming a permanent structure with the temporary planning permission being extended for another 25 years by Lambeth council which means only the intervention of the Mayor can prevent this. Unfortunately the granting of permanent status is opposed by English Heritage who were instrumental in claiming that the Eye "could fall out of public favour", it appears anything that isn't made of marble with doric columns just isn't good enough for them.

John Prescott has given approval to the planned skyscraper at 110 Bishopsgate that has been proposed by Heron Properties after a lengthy public enquiry. The blue glass tower designed by KPF has been the center of a wrangle between heritage bodies including English Heritage and those in favour of modernising the city. The issue was whether or not the 43floor 183m tall tower would infringe on the views of St Pauls Cathedral which are protected
Throughout the enquiry English Heritage argued that this was the case, even going as far as cutting down trees to make the spot where the tower should rise visible again in an attempt to restore old sightlines. Thanks to a number of computer renderings though, and some pretty weak arguments E.H were seen as being completely out-done by the Corporation of London and the newly appointed mayor Ken Livingstone.
The result which will see the City's third real skyscraper has been expected for months - John Prescott has declared that the project will only cause "marginal harm" to heritage sites surrounding it and this small amount of damage to the views of St Pauls is acceptable for future development which would be good news for St Boltophs House.
With the approval of 110 Bishopsgate a whole flood of skyscraper proposals look likely as developers seek to cash in on what has been a watershed for the City with proposals for an 820footer at Bishopsgate expected to be released soon.

After years of dithering by Birmingham City council the proposed residential skyscraper at Holloway Circus has finally got the go-ahead with a revised design. Originally proposed at 44floors it has been reduced in height to 38floors despite overwhelming demand in Birmingham for the scheme. As well as this the height of the gardens floors will be smaller - all of this is in line with post September 11th fears that the plans for Birmingham to be a mini-manhattan would make it an international terrorist target and the instistence of the Civil Aviation Authority that it would be dangerous at the original proposed height.
It's understood that the tower will be exactly 400ft (325.4m) which is down from the 540feet it was planned for which puts it falling short of the tallest residential in the u.k by one meter which continues to be held by the Barbican. The design is also likely to be very similar to the original, with a few layout changes to pack as many apartments into the reduced space as possible, although the spires of the original design which were 114feet have also been removed.
It does seem a shame though they weren't willing add an extra couple of meters to break that residential record.

Planning application has been officially filed for St Boltophs House aka the Minerva Building. The appplication reveals that the official height of the building is 217m (712m) to roof and a whopping 247m (820ft) to the top of the spire, so if counting the spire the U.K is getting is new tallest building.
The press have been largely supportive of the development so far with even the traditionally anti skyscraper Evening Standard saying that it should be a welcome addition to the skyline as it sticks to traditional limits, which completely squashes criticism previously levelled at the skyscraper by HRP.
The decision on whether to approve it should be taken within three months.

The 58 Building proposed by Lloyds of London for the site on 51 Limestreet has taken a step nearer approval. Designed by Sir Norman Foster it's recieved positive reviews from everyone in the planning process and is set to be given final approval by the planning body in the City of London on the 27th of July. As it was these people who rubberstamped the Heron and Swiss RE towers for the city there shouldn't be any problem with this minnow.
It will be a grand total of 25 floors, 700,000 square feet of floorspace and be 130m tall making it visible from waterloo right next to CGNU and Swiss RE towers and bulking out the skyline a bit.
The design is apparently inspired by seafood... clearly Foster is eating out a little too much these days.

EXCLUSIVE - The massive development planned by Canary Wharf Group for the North Quay area has been unveiled with the first official renderings. The site formerly known as Shed 35 which is currently a carpark has planning permission for building up to 541ft. It was purchased by Canary Wharf last year from Weatherby at a cool £33 million pounds setting a new land value record for the area.
It's been known for sometime that they were going to build big and tall thanks to the challenge of fitting over 3million square feet on a carpark and their chief executive in typical Canary Wharf style revealing almost nothing - but this is the first time we've actually seen what they plan since they revised the size of the scheme up. The rendering clearly shows one building of approx 30floors and 500ft tall and another building that tapers with 50floors and over 700ft tall in the design of Caesar Pellis 777 tower in Los Angeles.

"There is going to be at least one tall building on the site." George Iacobescu- CWG

It's refreshing to see that despite the major doubts some companies now have about tall buildings post September the 11th Canary Wharf still have gran plans for big buildings.
Development though on North Quay, and on Riverside South, isn't expected for a while yet. With 1million square feet of space still to let and the City just about to make it's own skyscraper plans public it's unlikely that anymore buildings will go up until that space is full, and all the chips have been put down.

English Heritage have been joined in their continuous fight against high-rises in London by the Historical Royal Palaces quango which is responsible for managing royal palaces and in particular the Tower of London which is a world heritage site.
The HRP have announced that they will oppose the recent St Boltophs House development announced by Minerva because of it's promixity to the Tower and also London Bridge Tower which will apparently infringe on view corridors of the Tower from other parts of London.

"There is no geographic limit on where we will object to new buildings. For example, even though the Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital development in Waterloo is a long way from the Tower, we oppose it because it will spoil the view (from the tower)." Natasha Woolard- HRP

Going further than this though, HRP have stated that they will oppose not just nearby skyscrapers but also the newly drafted plan for high-rise building projects by Ken Livingstone and plan on generally oppposing high-rise developments regardless of their actual geographic location and in the case of new hospitals the life-saving need London has for more beds.
There is one crucial policy difference between HRP and English Heritage, the latter seek to protect views of monuments whilst the former are also seeking to protect views from monuments which is unprecedented in modern planning and harks back to the original oppresive planning laws in London following Queen Anne's mansions. These days though it will be likely to recieve little sympathy from planning boards.
HRP have previously had success opposing the Pinnacle development which was proposed in 1999 and cancelled on the grounds that it would interfere with the views of a royal residence in Kew that has been laying empty and rotting for years and is closed to the public. More recently they have been keeping with past form have been opposing London Bridge Tower as the top few feet will be visible from an unused and closed courtyard in the Tower of London.

Following on from previous conceptual plans that London has seen such as the City Ecogate Tower and the infamous dildo shaped Greenbird, Tower Hamlets Council have had planning permission requested for a 1590ft tall tower topped by a 100ft spire called the Equinox Tower designed by an unknown archietect but is a modification of an idea by the Richard Rogers Partnership that was scrapped in 1996.
Its designed to have a grand total of 170floors for residential use given the floor to ceiling heights and will be one of the world's tallest buildings if it ever gets built.
The building will contain revolutionary building techniques including interlocking core segments running up the building supported by four spines all connected instead of the usual central core. There will be a suspended section at 1000ft running up the top third of the skyscraper and held in place by a series of ribs which will also be linked to these spines, this engineering has not previously been used in the U.K for towers that actually hold people and has only been seen on the Portsmouth Spinaker tower.
The cladding is designed to be glass and aluminium and will be built on foundations containing some 300piles each over 200ft from the bottom of the foundations.
The chances of Equinox actually being built are extremely small, instead it's been designed to raise questions about the feasibility of supertall residential towers in Tower Hamlets and pioneer radical new building techniques.
The project development officer of Tower Hamlets J.Ignall doesn't hold out such hopes for these towers being highly sceptical of the benefits of these for social housing despite the massive demands being placed on the councils housing department by the ever growing population of the area and the rocketing property prices and the council policy of trying to get tenants to relocate to the North of England because of the pure lack of space. Perhaps Tower Hamlets could stop being so p.c and live up to its name.
We will make available renderings and drawings of this project soon.

St Boltoph's House has taken a major step towards approval with the support of the Commission of Archietecture and Built Environment (CABE). CABE have given it a glowing report saying that "we think that this project offers both elegant architecture and high-quality workspace" although they have hinted that the planning authorities should tie the quality of the building to actual approval making it a legal requirement of the project to guarantee that what they have proposed they will actually build and not cut corners.
It's certain that as well as CABEs support the Corporation of London are also in favour of this particular project, it would never have been proposed with out the Corporations prior approval and given the Mayor's constant praise for well designed modern buildings he can also be expected to lend his support. Designed by Nicholas Grimshaw Associates St Boltoph's House will be the tallest building and largest building in the City of London planning permission was originally planned to be filed on the 11th of September last year but for understandable reasons they delayed this. Perhaps Minerva can be luckier this time and with it becoming obvious that English Heritage will be their only opponents it all the cards are set in the skyscraper's favour.

The first draft of the London Plan by the Mayor of London has been largely supportive of High Rise development in London earmarking several areas for possible development - Paddington, Vauxhall, Kings Cross, Southwark and Croydon. Croydon, Southwark and Paddington already have their own plans for major development which leaves Vauxhall which has been recommended for sometime as a center of residential high-rise and Kings Cross which has just started the first phase of an infrastructure regeneration plan.
The plan also suggests that the strategic views around St Pauls are reduced. Currently getting a skyscraper built in the City can be a major red tape generator for the developers and this is thought to be hindering construction and driving rents in London up. A reduction in these sightlines is thought to provide an extra spur of development to the City and allow it to compete more effectively with Canary Wharf.

CABE have also given the goahead to the proposed 600foot tall residential tower at St Georges Wharf in Vauxhall with very limited criticisms of the top of the building. The verdict of CABE is essential in a successful planning application and is one of the first steps of the process.
Despite original reservations about the site the towers location will not infringe views of the Palace of Westminster as it is placed between Millbank and Parliament. This tower ties in perfectly with the stated views of the Department of the Environment and Mayors plan for high-rises that this area of Vauxhall should be zoned to build tall. Presumably something will be rising up on site sooner than later.

Minerva have unveiled their latest plans for St Botolphs House in the city which if complete will be the tallest building. The previous design has been completely scrapped and replaced by a triangular skyscraper with sheer glass faces although Nicholas Grimshaw Associates stay on as the archietect. It's obviously heavily influenced by the famous Flatiron Building in New York and at 49 floors and some 710feet in height it will tower some 110feet above the current tallest in the City, Tower42 which has held the record since 1979. With 1million square feet of office space it will also be the largest skyscraper in the City in terms of sheer bulk.
As with the previous proposal this will have a restaurant on the top floor open to the public, but sadly not open air. The roof will be topped by a spire, something that's becoming a trend on skyscraper proposals in London. More importantly though, this change in design shows that the developers have the confidence to propose something even larger than before - they are obviously confident that the Heron Inquiry will rule in favour.

EXCLUSIVE - John Macalsan and Partners have been working on a secret project for a secret client for Newington Causeway in Southwark next to the Salvation Army Headquarters and Sessions House Gardens. The project which is to be an epileptical tower will consist of 21floors holding some 45,000 square meters of office space. It should be slightly over 100m to the roof, 120to structural top and 500ft to the spire. The tower is split into three sections of seven floors designed as communities and each separated by a sky lobby, another growing trend for designs in London. Thanks to A.H for the additional info.

New proposals have surfaced for the Lots Road powerstation project which was recently vetoed by Chelsea Council. Their objections were to the size of the taller tower although officially the project was not opposed on aesthetic grounds but on grounds of traffic increases.
The new design sees bulk given to both towers which were previously rather slender and the taller of the two chopped down by 9floors to 320ft which is slightly under 100m - the previous tower would have topped out at 426ft. This height reduction will disappoint the developers who were planning to have London's tallest residential rising - we were contacted by Terry Farell and Partners last year who were eager to confirm that their project would indeed be the tallest although it will now be behind both the Barbican Towers in the City and West India Quay which is currently under construction on the edge of Canary Wharf.
As well as the height decrease the density of the project has also been reduced to help appease the local residents who were opposed to the project as it would lead to more people living in the area. Given that London is in desparate need of affordable housing, which will make up slightly under half the project, thanks to the reduction is disappointing particularly given the current astronomical price-rises. The total number of affordable units hasn't been reduced but it's misleading for the developers to say its been increased when the total amount of housing has decreased.
The determination of the developers who have been plugging away since 1996 combined with the new design which has improved form, if not function, should see it given an easier ride through conservative controlled Chelsea council this time although their lack of understanding for new housing in the borough remains disappointing.

Delancy Estates has started pre-planning talks with Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, and Tower Hamlets Council to discuss the possibility of a 37-43storey tower on the site of Quay House in the Millenium Quarter. The existing building on the site is occupied by BT but given its only 17,000 square feet but we understand it would be relatively easy for Delancy to buy out the remainder of British Telecom's contract if they wanted to.
The council have long had a height limit of 25 floors for the Millenium Quarter, partly because of worries that the current transport infrastructure could not carry all the extra workers taller buildings would require, however with the developers saying that a ten year time scale is feasible this would give plenty of time for Crossrail to be implemented and the councils objections to fall aside.

English Heritage continue their bizarre death throes with the listing of a carpark on Brewer Street in Soho. The developers of the project, NCP had planned an 80million pound complex containing luxury flats and offices but the listing puts this planned development in jepoardy. English Heritage claim that it's important to preserve the oldest carpark in London which dates back to the 1920s despite their being three older carparks, one of which has been redeveloped into a Conran restaurant with no previous objections.
English Heritage say that they can redevelop the carpark IF the developers keep the original cladding although it is the carpark's interior that has actually been listeed. The developers meanwhile are intending to resubmit their plan with the cladding of the buildings changed from glass to stone and the general appearance made less modern, nice to see English Heritage aren't motivated by aesthetic predjudices.