LREF 2016: London mayor Sadiq Khan will look at London’s view management corridor as soon as powers are devolved to him.
Speaking in a session on London’s towers, Stewart Murray, assistant director in the planning team at the GLA, said that London’s tall building policy was under review and that densities in the capital would have to go up to feed demand.
He added that development would increasingly have to pay for infrastructure which would further promote higher density development above stations.
New London Architecture chairman Peter Murray said that the current view management corridor system was very clunky and needed a major overhaul.
He called for a London-wide 3D map to allow finer adjustments to the viewing corridor and allow the GLA, developers and the general public to look at Tower development from ground level.
There was general consensus among the panel, which also included JLL’s Adam Challis, Foster + Partners’ Grant Brooker and Lend Lease director Ed Mates, that more towers would be built in London.
Expansion of towers would be led by demand from the next generation, however, and should lead to a change in space standards, said Challis.
Challis added that for millennials, big space did not necessarily mean good space. He said developers would have to think more about shared spaces, replacing balconies with roof gardens and spare rooms with guest suites, etc.
“This is going to be a demand-led solution,” he said. “If a growing population wants to live in the city, we have to provide what they are after. The demand profile is for smaller units. That will determine the legacy of this cycle of towers.”
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