London’s skyline may soon begin to look a lot more like that of megapolis New York City. The 10th annual tall buildings report from the London-based think-tank New London Architecture found the city has almost 600 new skyscrapers either currently or soon to be under construction. If all the projects are completed, it would more than double the number of tall buildings completed over the last decade in Great Britain‘s capital.
“Tall buildings have changed the face of London substantially over the past 20 years and will continue to do so — the pipeline that NLA has tracked means there is at least 10 years’ supply that has already been defined,” New London Architecture’s co-founder Peter Murray said in a recent interview. He added: “London’s population continues to grow, passing the 10 million mark at the end of this decade. We still need tall buildings and NLA will continue to keep a close watch on what’s going on.”
London’s rising population and demand for additional office space are driving the upward surge in building construction. An influx of foreign investment and migrant labor has also helped fuel the construction boom. Once a sprawling low-rise city, London may increasingly resemble New York City’s Manhattan borough, where skyscrapers create long concrete and glass canyons towering over the streets below.
The New London Architecture report also found that The Shard is the favorite tall building among Londoners. Despite the appeal of some of the buildings and their unique architecture, not all city residents see the appeal. The report also found that nearly half of Londoners believe there are already too many tall buildings — a significant increase from the 32 percent who said the same in 2014.
