Reach for the sky: go-ahead for five of city's tallest towers

 
High society: the Arrowhead Quay development will have 756 homes
19 November 2014

Five of the tallest apartment blocks ever seen in London have been given the green light despite growing concern about the impact of the skyscraper epidemic on the capital’s skyline.

Around 2,000 homes will be created in the towers, four at Canary Wharf in Docklands and one in Vauxhall.

The two Canary Wharf schemes, South Quay Plaza and Arrowhead Quay, received planning permission from Tower Hamlets council last week, although a third proposal, Quay House, was turned down.

More than 100 people packed into the council chamber at Mulberry Place for a four-hour meeting, during which residents and Isle of Dogs councillors spoke out against the towers.

The taller 220-metre tower at South Quay Plaza will be the second tallest residential building to get planning permission in Britain after the City Pride building in Canary Wharf.

The Foster & Partners development, approved by four votes to two, will have almost 900 apartments in two towers — one of 68 floors and the other of 36.

Isle of Dogs resident Sarah Castro said at the meeting she feared for children who would grow up in the towers.

She said: “I’ve raised children in a tall building and it’s extremely stressful. We need to get developers to raise their game and build developments that will enhance communities.”

But developer Berkeley said the base of the towers would be devoted to an acre of gardens with more than half the site turned into public space.

Councillors also gave the go-ahead to Ballymore’s Arrowhead Quay development, which will include towers of 55 and 50 storeys designed by Glenn Howells Architects and will have 756 homes. Both buildings will have 6ft-wide “wraparound” balconies at every floor, and there will be a two-storey residents’ lounge on top of the taller building.

Separately, Lambeth council has given the go-ahead to 450 apartments in a 50-storey block dubbed the “Jenga Tower” after Communities Secretary Eric Pickles decided not to order a public enquiry into the scheme.

The flurry of planning approvals came as members of the London Assembly unanimously passed a motion calling on the Mayor to tighten control of tall buildings in London.Demands included setting up “a skyline commission” of design experts to review proposals.

Some 230 towers of at least 20 storeys are being built or planned in the capital in a wave of high level construction.

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