This is a London 2005 round-up thread.

This year london has started 5 100m+ towers, since 2003 we have only completed 7. So all in all this year has not really been a disapointment.

I believe There has been around 17 100m+ proposals this year.

So 17 proposals and 5 u/c.

What are your views on London 2005?

i'd be lying if i never said i wish we had all the propsed/approved projects underconstruction now, who really wouldn't? but i think being realistic were going at a steady pace and im sure the top skyscrapers like the shard will begin within this decade.

This year has been very exciting i think, the DIFA renderings have been amazing and along with London bridger Tower are my most favoured skyscrapers.

so... yeah it could of been better but things are getting there. I do wish city planned skyscrapers would be completed for 2012 olympics, would of been awesome.... :)

The quality of proposals we have had this year have been fantastic and they keep on coming... alot of world class and london-changing projects have been added to the list.

At the same time, as mentioned, the ones that are going ahead know really are building the groundwork to launch london's skyscrapers. The smaller residential towers are necessary to put in perspective how massive some of the office towers are. 1WIQ does a great job with this in CW

After crossing waterloo bridge and taking in the full evening panorama of london i have resigned the cluster argument. We should always aim for decent clusters, but pinnacles across the whole panorama would look stunning as it already does. Therefore, i am pleased to see vauxhall picking up and would not be against seeing the Southbank towers launching soon.... the view from Waterloo, with all its little details, is already stunning... towers will only continue to fill the airspace without detracting from the eye level details in my opinion.

It's been a good year... I just hope the momentum is sustained into 2006, and that AT LEAST another 3 or 4 major projects get started.

Alot of talk and not much action...the usual London way.

For a city the size and stature of London to be just building 1 tower of 160m and the rest of 125m or less is about as impressive as my home city buliding another 2 storey block of flats...

2006 is going to be even quieter, with LBT, or whatever its called now, unlikely to start until 2007, if at all.
DIFA will get approval but wont start until a big pre let is secured, which as we have all seen can take years in London.

The only real hope i have for 2006 is the new Beetham tower, if that gets approval, beetham have a very good track record of starting construction quickly, one of the few developers in the UK who are prepared to put their money where their mouth is, unlike most of the gutless London developers.


The fact is, we are not going to know until 2007/08 as to what will and what wont ever get built.





pretty dismal really.

nono, i disagree....

dismal would be a total reaction against tall buildings, a collapse in the demand and the supply of them and in fact a total disliking of them... that's where we came from i believe.

Dismal, i believe, would be negative results... that is lower than 0, counter results.... i dont think any of this is dismal.

And if we are talking about construction in general, i think the movement on Wembley Stadium, T5, and Dome are all pretty exciting....

Oh wait.... didnt we win the olympic bid this year?

If it wasnt not for the facts..that 5 (or possibly more) towers have started construction in London alone this year, then there would be little point in visiting this forum regularly I think. Its not an "the end is nigh" place to visit.....all of us waiting for something that will probably never happen. Its all happening, but sometimes not in the way or timescale we expect.

A great start for the next few years barring any disasters....

Talking of which..who else was woken at 6am this morning by that ENORMOUS flash and blast!

Lets see this year we had images of Broadgate released around feb along with talk of Wilkinsons Eyres 35 storey office block, then Beethams tower, Marsh Wall towers,then DIFA, then Doon St & now E&C tower & the new vauxhall ones.Noth quay got planing permission St Georges vauxall tower won its PI & we saw loads of resi's come of the drawing boards & get put in for planning - And I might add the resi's are getting taller & taller- At the beginnig of the year we were excited about tabbard sq & its 24 floors now it barely gets a mention. Go back through all the threads for the year & see all the 25+ resis we found about this year from Granites wharf to Islington to Deptford & South Quay

Also the fact that we have the Willis & Broadgate towers in the construction phase & Ontario & Pan P starting then its beenthe most productive year compared to 2004 & later half of 2003. Ow & the stock exchaneg finally getting started as well.

Were on a real upward swing now with more news on towers we know about- Heron going higher & more than likely to start in 2007 as soon as Nortonmove to More London. 122LH will be ready to go when all the leases are up in 2008 & willis/broadgate will be finished. Hopefully DIFA will get full PP & Work should progress on LBT.

And thats dont forget the ones we know about- theres surely many more offices & resi's being drawn up as we speculate here with at least 3 we know about, Land Secs WilkinsonEyre Tower, Land Secs 20 fenchurch st & Hammersons Norton folgate scheme which should all go in for planning next year.

The only bad news we got was Columbus being sold & having an uncertain future.


Plus the fact that the office market in the city has definately accelerated the last quarter which bodes for good end of year & continued sucess next year.

Lets see this year we had images of Broadgate released around feb along with talk of Wilkinsons Eyres 35 storey office block, then Beethams tower, Marsh Wall towers,then DIFA, then Doon St & now E&C tower & the new vauxhall ones.Noth quay got planing permission St Georges vauxall tower won its PI & we saw loads of resi's come of the drawing boards & get put in for planning - And I might add the resi's are getting taller & taller- At the beginnig of the year we were excited about tabbard sq & its 24 floors now it barely gets a mention. Go back through all the threads for the year & see all the 25+ resis we found about this year from Granites wharf to Islington to Deptford & South Quay

Also the fact that we have the Willis & Broadgate towers in the construction phase & Ontario & Pan P starting then its beenthe most productive year compared to 2004 & later half of 2003. Ow & the stock exchaneg finally getting started as well.

Were on a real upward swing now with more news on towers we know about- Heron going higher & more than likely to start in 2007 as soon as Nortonmove to More London. 122LH will be ready to go when all the leases are up in 2008 & willis/broadgate will be finished. Hopefully DIFA will get full PP & Work should progress on LBT.

And thats dont forget the ones we know about- theres surely many more offices & resi's being drawn up as we speculate here with at least 3 we know about, Land Secs WilkinsonEyre Tower, Land Secs 20 fenchurch st & Hammersons Norton folgate scheme which should all go in for planning next year.

The only bad news we got was Columbus being sold & having an uncertain future.


Plus the fact that the office market in the city has definately accelerated the last quarter which bodes for good end of year & continued sucess next year.

Great post... that's a very positive way of looking at things. :)

If it wasnt not for the facts..that 5 (or possibly more) towers have started construction in London alone this year, then there would be little point in visiting this forum regularly I think. Its not an "the end is nigh" place to visit.....all of us waiting for something that will probably never happen. Its all happening, but sometimes not in the way or timescale we expect.

A great start for the next few years barring any disasters....

Talking of which..who else was woken at 6am this morning by that ENORMOUS flash and blast!
Yeah..i live 6 miles from it, i was gunna go c it but my friends were to tired lol (they probly ment scared lol)