Hoping for a more positive approach to increased building heights and development densities for London

According to the Greater London Authority (GLA)’s ‘Housing in London Report (GLA)’ published November 2024 as part of the evidence base in preparation for the next London Plan, “compared to Paris and New York, a far larger proportion of London’s homes are in low-density neighbourhoods, and overall, Paris and New York are twice as densely built as London.”

It notes that London’s population reached a new peak of 8.9 million in 2023, after recovering from a dip during the pandemic.

According to the research, Greater Paris and New York City have a similar number of homes as London (3.6 million in New York and 3.7 million in Paris compared to 3.7 million in London), but spread over roughly half the land area (around 780km2 an 770km2 respectively compared to 1,570km2 in London), and therefore have twice the density of housing.

Other interesting statistics show that Inner London’s population peaked at just over 5 million in 1911 and fell to as low as 2.343 million in 1991. It has grown since and reached 3.479 million in 2023.

Outer London’s population has also grown strongly in recent decades, and reached 5.467 million in 2023, being a new record.

London is home to both the fastest and slowest-growing local housing stocks in England though. The number of homes in Kensington & Chelsea grew by just 2% over the last decade, compared to 26% in Tower Hamlets.

Clearly there is a strong contrast across the spectrum of locations where new housing is being delivered and where it is not. Given the average property and land prices across Kensington & Chelsea though (among the highest across the entire UK), it would be a fair observation to suggest that the extremely low amount of new delivery there is not a result of a lack of demand.

There are places across Greater London (along with all the other cities in the United Kingdom), where specific historic built environments are not suitable locations for tall buildings (or other intensified, high density developments), in instances where they would harm or disrupt the settings of designated heritage assets (Listed Buildings and Conservations Areas or Scheduled Ancient Monuments), or other sensitive land features within their surroundings.

But for the places where tall buildings are appropriate (as established in the adopted London Plan and the respective Borough Local Plan policies); it is my opinion that the emphasis should be to accommodate and support much taller buildings.

It is also worth noting that the Green Belt will not be disappearing. The restrictive policies dictate that there will not be further outward expansions to Greater London. Many locations are not suitable for intensification and London does indeed have a lower density compared to other comparable world cities.

From my own opinion, I would like to see the next London Plan truly embrace and support iconic tower developments, that can reach far greater heights in the policy supported Opportunity Areas.

My final point is that I strongly hope we start to see more ‘Yes In My Backyard’ (YIMBY) advocates coming into the conversation, influencing the decision-making around very tall buildings as it feels to me that the ‘Not In My Backyard’ (NIMBY) gang has been too strong for far too long.