LREF 2016: Westminster City Council is revisiting its policy on tall buildings, Robert Davis, deputy leader and cabinet member for the built environment at Westminster City Council, told the opening reception of the London Real Estate Forum in Berkeley Square, W1, last night.
Davis said its current height policy was now “well out of date”.
“We are in the process of drawing up a set of principles to frame the debate which will explain the issue and set out the challenges before we engage on our proposal with members, residents and the industry during the autumn, progressing to a formal consultation in September next year,” he said.
Although Davis does not want to see “a rush of Gherkins”, he said that more needed to be done to encourage the development of additional office space with flexible floorplates to support the economy.
“Having responded to the danger posed by runaway office-to-residential conversions by preventing such applications in a key area of economic heartland since September last year, we also formally launched our revised mixed-use policy last year and planning applications that deliver a net gain in commercial floorspace are given added flexibility,” he added.
