Why It Matters Tall Buildings
Summary
We have mapped the location, height and number of tall buildings and structures (equal to or above 100 metres in height) which exist, or are planned to be built, in a given postcode.
Definition
A tall building is a free-standing structure that stands 100 metres tall, as measured vertically from the “ground” level to the highest point of the structure directly above.
Interpretation
| Dataset | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Tall Buildings within postcode | This is a list of all tall buildings and structures over 100 meters in your area. Each entry is interactive meaning additional information about each building can be viewed when you click on an entry. |
| Tall Building Distribution | If there are no buildings in your postcode you can view the overall distribution of tall buildings on the map. Postcodes that contain a building or stucture that is over 100 meters will be marked with a hexagon. Blue hexagons indicate the postcode contains 1 relevant building, yellow indicates 2 relevant buildings, and red indicates 3 relevant buildings. |
Why the metric matters from a commercial inhabitant’s perspective
The number of tall buildings in your vicinity, for providers of general services means that the possible customer quantum is likely to be higher than in lower population density areas. For providers of specialist services, they are likely to be able to benefit from economies of scale called agglomeration benefits when other equally specialist and similar business are concentrated within an area in a manner that only tall buildings allow.
This means that labour market and other supporting service access can be improved, additionally, business in a concentrated location can benefit from the inevitable pooled effect of marketing efforts.
Why the metric matters from a residential inhabitant’s perspective
Living in an area with tall buildings will mean that your locale is busier than average. Depending on the use of the tall building(s) this means that there will be more shops, offices and/or residential units within walking distance. It is also likely to mean that that traffic is slower moving at the ground level especially during peak hours of movement, as all the people and goods associated with activity that is concentrated within a tall building need to travel on the existing transport network. It is also likely to mean that the shadow cast by tall buildings will overshadow those lower down as less light will be able to penetrate to the ground level, and as a result of which the area will feel less open.
The positive side of being near tall buildings is that the concentration of human activity creates that busy urban feel which is what attracts many to live in urban areas as opposed to more rural neighbourhoods. Opportunities for using alternative forms of transport such as cycling and walking are increased as activity is less widely distrusted as compared to more rural neighbourhoods.
(Photograph: Robert Bye, Wikimedia Commons)
General commentary
Tower’s, skyscrapers or tall buildings, whatever you know them as, are becoming more and more prominent and common within London. Whether you love them due to the majestic urban skyline, come testament to modernity that they create, or the high housing and commercial densities they allow by building up rather than across, you cannot deny that tall buildings have an impact on living and working in London.
Tall buildings are however the antithesis to human scale developments. By human scale we mean buildings of a size, scale and shape that is reasonable for an average person to use without feeling overwhelmed by the size of the buildings around them. Think Zones 4-6 (of the London Underground Tube Map) being largely comprised of human scale terraced, semi and detached homes and office units with rising units not widely exceeding six storeys.
Then compare that with zones 1 and 2 the megastructures of Canary Wharf, The City of London and the other towers dotted around Elephant and Castle and Battersea. What you’ll notice is that the density that tall buildings allow creates a busy urban scene full of people, shops, traffic, sounds, eateries and entertainment that can for the most part be accessed on public transport or on foot.
Some people think that because tall buildings push social and economic activity to elevated places, they have a negative effect on street life as people isolate themselves from having to interact with street level activity on a regular basis or in a manner that low-rise building necessitate. The absence of tall buildings however, means lower building density’s and resultantly less people and business can physically inhabit a given area. This arguably allows a neighbourhood to generate a human scale feel. On the downside, however this can also create a dependent reliance on cars as services are geographically more spread out.
Whatever your take on tall buildings, our research indicates they exist for one of two reasons, to concentrate commercial and social activity for one of two reasons either because land values are sufficiently high and buyer/ rental demand is enough to warrant building upwards, or to concentrate the effects of a social strata or commercial activity to either limit the spill over effects into surrounding neighbourhood or generate the happenstance interactions and agglomerative benefits of scale that high density urban living provides.
Trivia
Interestingly there is some correlation with a city’s skyline and its inhabitant’s perspectives on the City’s power as it’s been known for a long time that architectural design affects emotions, and vice versa. That’s why for instance municipal buildings often prefer to use architecture at a monumental scale, as opposed to a human scale, as its grandiosity can inspire awe in citizens.
History
Until the 1960s, London maintained a relatively low skyline because of the tight restrictive planning environment that was and still is intended to preserve the visual dominance of its historic buildings such as St Paul’s Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament. The development of several, albeit isolated, tall buildings in the 1960s and 1970s in London’s West End (Centre Point and Euston Tower) and within the City (Britannic House and NatWest Tower) somewhat changed London’s skyline. Further change occurred in the 1980s. The start of the Canary Wharf project in London’s Docklands and the completion of its first major tall building there in 1991, One Canada Square (50 stories, 237 metres high) opened a new era of tall-building development on London’s perimeter. Until very recently, however, tall buildings were largely missing from central London.