Tall Buildings

The Bermondsey area has a long history of tall buildings, stretching back to the council estate building programme of the 1960s - which brought us the tower blocks of the Kipling Estate, Lawson Estate and Peveril House by the Bricklayers Arms.

These were joined in the early 1970s by Guy's Hospital - still the tallest hospital building in the world - at 143metres High (469 feet) and, more recently, the 'Shard of Glass' building by London Bridge.

Modern developments, from Empire Square (22 storeys), City Walk (12 storeys) and Bermondsey Square (11 storeys) have seen more tall residential buildings come in to the area.

Appropriateness of tall buildings
With so many tall buildings already in the area, it would be hard to argue that any more tall buildings would be out of place. The location and setting of tall buildings is crucial to their acceptability.

There are some areas, for example in the heart of historic Bermondsey Street where tall buildings would be completely unacceptable. Some places - such as the Long Lane - Weston Street corner are much more appropriate for the development of tall buildings.

It is not appropriate to see wholesale high-rise buildings in the Bermondsey area. Other parts of the London might work perfectly well with many tall buildings. Two examples are the City of London and the Canary Wharf. Tall buildings for Bermondsey will work best in small clusters where there are lower rise buildings around which allow the tall building to be seen in context. In many cases a balance needs to be struck with more open space and common areas being provided if less land is needed when build vertically. Any new development in the Bermondsey Neighbourhood Forum designated areas should be considered within the above stated context.