London skyscraper architecture photos, UK Capital tall buildings pictures, Architects high-rise designs news

London Skyscrapers: Buildings

Key Towers in London, England – Tall Buildings News UK

post updated 10 August 2024

New London Skyscraper Designs

22 February 2024
BT Tower London hotel building conversion news
Design: Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio
MCR Hotels, the third largest hotel owner-operator in the US, has agreed to buy the BT Tower from BT Group:
BT Tower London hotel building conversion + Telecom Tower London Building

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18 July 2023
Tower near Victorian Turkish Baths
The City of London must refuse permission for tower over the top of listed Victorian Turkish Baths to avoid being branded failing on heritage protection. the property design was by S. Harold Elphick, and dates from 1894-95. See the London Architecture News page for details.

4 May 2023
Elephant & Castle student residence, Elephant & Castle, Southwark, south London
Design: Maccreanor Lavington architects
Elephant & Castle student residence, Southwark
image courtesy of architecture office
Elephant & Castle student residence, Southwark
Planning permission has been granted for this 24-storey tower building south of the UP capital’s city centre.

14 June 2022
Grenfell fifth anniversary news
Grenfell Tower fifth anniversary

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New London Skyscraper Designs 2017 – 2021

24 Nov 2021
One Bishopsgate Plaza, Bishopsgate, City of London
Design: PLP Architecture
One Bishopsgate Plaza City of London Architecture News
photo : Julian Abrams
One Bishopsgate Plaza
One Bishopsgate Plaza is the first high-rise residential and hospitality development built in the City and stands as a bold commitment to the continued vitality of the area. The site includes a new 43-storey tower to house the hotel and residential uses along with a refurbished and extended Victorian building lining Devonshire Row that incorporates restaurant, office and retail space.

29 Jul 2021
22 Bishopsgate, City of London
22 Bishopsgate London tower building
image courtesy of architects practice
22 Bishopsgate London Building

25 Jun 2017
Sky Garden Renewal at the Walkie Talkie Building
Walkie Talkie Building in London | www.e-architect.com
photograph © Nick Weall
Walkie Talkie Building London news
The Sky Garden will be undergoing a refurbishment from the of 7th July 2017. Renewal work is due to last for a number of weeks. The work is set to improve the visitor experience.

31 Mar 2017
New London Skyscrapers

Construction began on a record number of skyscrapers in London last year with an additional 455 towers planned for the capital, reports The Daily Telegraph.

The Canary Wharf and Docklands areas are particular focal points for construction with 77 skyscrapers planned in the borough of Tower Hamlets and 68 in Greenwich, the two highest of all of London’s 33 boroughs.

The London Tall Buildings Survey provides a comprehensive review of all towers over 20 storeys proposed, in planning or under construction across the capital. This is the fourth year it has reported.

Tall buildings are being completed at an expanding rate: there was an 150pc increase from 2015 (26 compared with 10), far above any level London has seen before.

27 towers will have 50 floors and above.

Future London Skyscrapers – article in The Daily Telegraph

28 Jan 2017
40 Leadenhall Street Skyscraper
Design: Make Architects
1 Leadenhall Building City of London arrow
image from architects
Brookfield has received a resolution to grant consent from the City of London for 1 Leadenhall, a 36- storey tower.
The £400m skyscraper will be 182.7-metre (600ft) high, and include 36-storeys.
1 Leadenhall Tower – planning approval news update

26 Jan 2017

40 Leadenhall Street Skyscraper News
Design: Make Architects

Status Planning approved
Sectors Office, Tall buildings
Area 84,500m²/910,000ft²
Client Henderson Global Investors

40 Leadenhall Street London Skyscraper
image from architects

A resolution to grant planning permission has been awarded for Make’s striking office building in the heart of the City of London’s insurance district. The 40 Leadenhall Street site – also known as the Leadenhall Triangle – is owned by Henderson Global Investors and sits within the City’s dense cluster of tall buildings, defining its easternmost edge.

The scheme varies in height, reaching 154m at its highest point, and creates a striking and harmonious composition of shifting rectilinear planes inspired by the early 20th century skyscrapers of Chicago and New York. Formed from a series of stepped vertical ‘slices’, the building terraces down to reduce its profile in response to key vantage points on the skyline, mediating between the scale of the adjacent towers to the north and west, and the lower buildings to the east and south. The tallest and widest ‘slice’ is positioned closest to the centre of the City cluster and steps down towards the River Thames and the Tower of London.

40 Leadenhall Street tower building
image from architects

All buildings on the site will be demolished, with the exception of the highly ornamental Grade II listed 19-21 Billiter Street, dating from 1865, which will be substantially retained, enhanced and sensitively integrated into the scheme. Over 10,000 people will be accommodated in the building on completion, which offers a wide variety of floorplates catering for different office occupier requirements in terms of floor size and divisibility. Over 14% of the site outside of the building footprint will become publicly accessible space; the ground floor double-height entrance lobby and retail entrances are set back to create generous pedestrian zones and active street frontages to most of the perimeter.

Website: 40 Leadenhall Street Skyscraper Building

London Skyscraper Designs 2012 – 2016

5 Sep 2016

London Skyscraper News – latest additions to this page, arranged chronologically:

Spire London Docklands Tower
Design: HOK, Architects

The tallest resi-tower in Western Europe

Spire London Docklands skyscraper building
image from architect

Spire London Docklands Tower

5 Apr 2016

Calls for London-wide Approach to New Towers

5th of April 2016 – Historic England wants more people to be consulted on tall building proposals after poll suggests negative impact on city views, reports The Guardian.

A recent assessment found that 436 towers of 20 or more storeys are in the pipeline for the London.

Almost half of Londoners think hundreds of new towers planned for the capital will have a negative effect on the city’s skyline, a poll suggests.

Polling for the government’s heritage body, Historic England, found that 48% felt this way, compared with 34% who thought the tall buildings would have a positive effect on the skyline.

Heritage experts are calling for a London-wide approach to buildings that affect views of the city after a recent assessment showed 436 towers of 20 or more storeys are in the pipeline for the capital.

The number of towers going up or planned for the capital is revealed in the London Tall Buildings Survey. Published last month by the independent New London Architecture forum, it found that of the 436 towers under construction, approved or in the planning process, one in seven were 40 storeys or more and that eight were 60 storeys or higher.

London-wide Approach to New Towers article in full

60-70 St Mary Axe London – 28 Dec 2015
Design: Foggo Associates Architects
60-70 St Mary Axe Skyscraper
image courtesy of the architects
A small tower building developed by TIAA Henderson Real Estate, with more than 277,000 sqft of offices across 24 floors.

1 Undershaft Tower London – 9 + 8 Dec 2015
Design: Eric Parry Architects
1 Undershaft Skyscraper in London by Eric Parry
image : DBOX, courtesy Eric Parry Architects
A planned skyscraper nicknamed ‘The Trellis’ could become London’s second tallest building. The tower would dwarf the neighbouring Gherkin by Foster + Partners and almost match The Shard in height, reports The Standard.

The Scalpel City of London Skyscraper
Design: Kohn Pederson Fox – KPF
The Scalpel Tower Lime Street
image courtesy of the architects
This 38-storey tower design gained approval in 2013.

Ludgate House & Sampson Houses Building Development, London, UK – 9 Oct 2013
Architect: PLP Architecture
Ludgate House and Sampson House
picture from architects
The regeneration project will create a destination neighbourhood with around 490 new homes, as well as 3,700 jobs which represents a c.1,450 increase in new full time or equivalent jobs compared to what the current buildings provide. The development will comprise 1.4 million sq ft of total floor space, including 940,000 sq ft of residential, 450,000 sq ft of new offices, 35,000 sq ft of new public open spaces, 25,000 sq ft of retail and 18,500 sq ft of space for cultural use.

257 City Road, Islington, north east London
Design: UNStudio
257 City Road Building
image by dbox branding & creative
257 City Road Tower – 12 Mar 2012
Orion City Road Trustee Ltd, the vehicle set up by Orion Capital Managers for the redevelopment of 257 City Road, has secured a Resolution to Grant Planning Permission from Islington Council for a 30-storey residential tower designed by international architecture practice UNStudio. The decision ensures redevelopment of this significant City Road Basin site will begin this year.

London Skyscrapers – Architecture News 2011-12

London Skyscrapers, buildings + news listed reverse chronologically:

The history of high rise development in London + the immediate future for London Skyscrapers:

High Rise Development in London – external link

Future for London Skyscrapers – external link

The Shard
Design: Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW)
The Shard London
photo © Nick Weall
London Bridge Tower : 66 storeys
construction work commenced on site in 2009.

122 Leadenhall Street
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
122 Leadenhall Street
image : Cityscape
The Cheesegrater: 48 storeys
construction work recommenced on site in January 2011.

The Pinnacle – aka Helter Skelter
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
The Pinnacle
image : KPF and Cityscape
The Pinnacle : 60 storeys
Construction work started in June 2011 on this major London skyscraper designed by KPF. The 64-storey structure, nicknamed the ‘Helter Skelter’ has only got up to ground level. The development is by Arab Investments and is due to complete somewhere between 2012 and 2014.

London Skyscrapers – Architecture News 2011

20 Fenchurch St – discussions underway
Design: Rafael Vinoly Architects
Walkie Talkie building London
image from architects
Walkie Talkie skyscraper : 37 storeys

Heron Tower – 110 Bishopsgate – complete
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Heron Tower
photo © mattchungphoto.com
Heron Tower : 46 storeys

London Skyscrapers – Architecture News 2010

20 Blackfriars Road – news update
Wilkinson Eyre
20 Blackfriars Road
picture from architect
20 Blackfriars Road : 43 storeys

Beetham Tower London
Ian Simpson Architects
Beetham Tower London
picture from Eusas
London skyscraper : 51 storeys

London Skyscrapers – Architecture News 2009

Doon Street tower – approval news 2009
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Doon Street tower
picture from architect
Doon Street tower : 43 storeys

201 Bishopsgate
Skidmore Owings Merill
201 Bishopsgate
London skyscraper photograph © Adrian Welch
201 Bishopsgate : 63 storeys

City Road Tower
Will Alsop, architect
City Road Tower
image from SR
City Road Tower

London Skyscrapers – Architecture News 2008

Pan Peninsula aka 1 Millharbour
Skidmore Owings Merill
Pan Peninsula
image from TTA
London towers : 48 storeys

Proposed London Skyscrapers nicknames include Cheese Grater, Shard of Glass, The Cloud, Walkie Talkie, Boomerang, Three Sisters & Helter Skelter

For regular skyscraper news updates see London Architecture Photographs page: this updated almost every weekend through the summer months with news + photos

Recent London skyscraper titles include Erotic Gherkin

London Skyscrapers – Key Built Architecture

Key London Skyscrapers, alphabetical:

99 Bishopsgate Building
99 Bishopsgate Building
photo © Nick Weall

Canary Wharf towers
Canary Wharf towers
picture © Adrian Welch

Centre Point Tower
Centre Point Tower
photo © Nick Weall

City of London skyscraper : Willis Building
City of London skyscraper
image © Adrian Welch

Lloyds Building
Lloyds Building
photo © Adrian Welch

London Wall Buildings
London Wall Buildings
photo © Nick Weall

Millbank Tower
Millbank Tower
photo © Nick Weall

25 Ropemaker – news update 2010
25 Ropemaker
photo © Nick Weall

St Helen’s Building (former Aviva Tower)
Aviva Tower
photo © Nick Weall

Stock Exchange Building
Stock Exchange Building
photo © Nick Weall

Stratford Eye Tower
Stratford Eye Tower
photo © Nick Weall

Swiss Re Building – 30 St Mary’s Axe
Swiss Re Tower Building
photo © Adrian Welch

Tower 42 – former Nat West Tower
Tower 42 London
image © Adrian Welch

London Skyscrapers – no images

Key London Skyscraper Buildings – alphabetical list

London skyscraper architect : Richard Seifert

London Tall Building Project unrealised

Mansion House, City of London
1988-
for Peter Palumbo – Mies van der Rohe tower design

London Skyscraper Heights

St Helen’s Building (former Aviva Tower, Commercial Union Building) : 133m / 437 ft
The Stock Exchange :100m / 329 ft
Lloyds Building : 84m / 276 ft
Former P&O Building, 122-138 Leadenhall St : 54m / 177 ft

Location: London, south east England, UK

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London skyscrapers photographs by Adrian Welch taken with Panasonic DMC-FX01 lumix camera; Leica lense: 2816×2112 pixels – original photos available : info(at)e-architect.com

London Buildings

Buildings / photos for the London Skyscraper Architecture page welcome