North London is set to see the world's tallest stadium and a massive neighbouring redevelopment next door with the transformation of Wembley.

History.
Wembley has historic links to grand projects. The metropolitan line was originally built for the abortive Wembley Tower, which at over 1000 feet was to have been the worlds tallest structure. The tower was never completed and in 1926 the famous twin towered stadium was built on the site instead ultilising what was at the time superb transport links with the rest of London and giving football its spiritual home.

The Development.
After over 70 years of continuous use, including one world cup and live, the Football Association decided it was time to do something new. The stadium, was reaching its sell-by date and despite being well loved by many it wasn't exactly the centerpiece the F.A wanted. Despite this they were unable to proceed thanks to the lack of cash. It was only when the National Lottery stepped in with the starting finance that the project was finally able to get properly underway.It took many years of delays and negotiations for someone to finally sign over the money that the F.A needed to complete the project, and for a while it was in danger of turning into another Pickets Lock debacle to embarass the government.
It wasn't just the stadium but the whole area was in need of regeneration, with Wembley not exactly being the nicest place in London despite the stadium which made it a perfect location for a mixed use development that can cash in on the new stadium.
Previous plans spearheaded by Ken Bates had included the neighbouring land being used specifically as an F.A owned development in the form of what Chelsea Village is but these plans were dropped thanks to escalating cost meaning another use had to be found for the area.

Project Details.
The stadium itself is designed by Norman Foster and Partners and will feature a 133m tall lit arch as the landmark that will be visible from most of London. It will contain a massive 90,000 seats and in terms of space be the largest stadium in the world. Previous plans to move the original twin towers 250m to the site of the new stadium have been abandoned due to cost limitations and so now the stadium will come in at a mere £600 million if finished on time and on budget.
The neighbouring mixed use development has been designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership and contains a whopping 19 blocks in total. 678,000sq feet of office space is planned to create new jobs in the area with a special emphasis on the creative industries, plus 3,700 homes spanning the 55 acre site which will meet the demands of London's Mayor by being 40% affordable. The total cost is estimated at approximately £1 billion.
Features will include a public square akin to Leciester Square, 6000 jobs, a 100m tall tower and a total of 60% of the site will be wide open space swept by long boulevards The intention planners claim is to create something with the same sort of feel as Convent Gardens. The neighbouring Wembley Arena is also set to get a well-needed face-lift.

The planning process.
With the stadium planning was always a formality and it is now going ahead and has started construction. The older stadium is nearing being completely demolished and the new stadium should be finished by 2006.
The near-by Rogers designed development should also have smooth sailing. None of the buildings are of excessive height and keep in size with other towers in Wembley whilst not interupting any sight-lines. The area has long been supported for redevelopment by Ken Livingstone and with his guidelines on affordable housing having been met everything should go ahead as planned now, particularly with financing in place.

Future Prospects.
London has seen a growing number of clusters lately. It seems that once tipping point gets reached in a certain area with development and transport upgrades it becomes acceptable for developers to try and build increasingly impressive projects nearby. Stratford and Vauxhall are the classic cases in point.
In this case, the stadium and surrounding development are sure to act as a magnet for other developers to come rushing in for. Most importantly Wembley already has it's own tube station, it simply has not been the most desirably of places to live in thanks to many years of neglect.
This is bound to change and over the next couple of years you can expect neighbouring plots to be purchased as developers seek to cash in on the areas success and new-found 'cool'.
At no time would we expect supertall towers to build here but it's not beyond the realms of imagination for similar sized towers to what has been proposed to go up nearby. Infact it would be surprising if Wembley didn't see more activity after this.
To put it bluntly, this is only the start.