The City’s skyline is always changing, but if we want our economy to grow bigger, it must go higher, writes City of London policy chairman Chris Hayward
Atop my agenda for the City of London this week, as it is almost every week, is to secure and maintain our great capital’s competitiveness and pre-eminence among global cities. So over the next few days, I’m representing the City Corporation in France at Europe’s largest real estate conference, MIPIM 2025, along with the Mayor of London and a coalition of business organisations.
With the London Growth Plan recently published, the main aim of our team is simple: to demonstrate to the world that London is the best place to live, work and visit – and to also drive investment into the city.
The Square Mile in particular, with its 800-year history as a financial hub, plays a key role in the national economy, generating more than £97bn annually and accounting for one in five financial services jobs in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
At MIPIM, the spotlight is fixed on the built environment sector and the City of London Corporation pulls its weight here too, with the highest planning application approval rating, by far, of any local authority in Britain. We look forward to the imminent publication of the government’s new planning bill as an ambitious driver of growth. Coupled with our planning and transportation committee chair Shravan Joshi, as well as our clear and progressive planning policies, the Square Mile will become one of the most sustainable and thriving urban environments in the world.
What the City’s future looks like
We were delighted by last week’s response to the latest computer-generated image of the City’s future skyline once all planning permissions approved over the last 10 years have been constructed. This unambiguously demonstrates a thriving and resilient real estate sector that continues to evolve, while respecting the area’s rich heritage.
Nurturing conditions for sorely needed UK growth – by attracting new businesses to a dynamic and thriving City, while balancing heritage conservation – is vital for the Square Mile’s future. The City Corporation’s own growth strategy, ‘Destination City’, as well as our emerging local plan, ‘City Plan 2040′, are squarely focused on this objective.
For centuries we’ve been carefully balancing progress with preservation. Just last month, a remarkable discovery was made beneath the site of 85 Gracechurch Street – an intact Roman Basilica, a testament to our City’s deep and unique history.
I want more people to experience the link between the past and the present. Knowing Roman London is beneath our feet is simply a remarkable emotion to experience. You can actually see and visualise how Roman London would have been in those times. And then you can walk outside and look at the skyscrapers. This is progress, much like the ongoing re-introduction of the City’s lost historical alleys to public use, opening up new views of City landmarks to improve wayfinding.
The Square Mile has a unique and diverse offer, with its unrivalled history, world-class arts and culture, open spaces, restaurants, cafes, pubs, and bars, attracting tens of millions of domestic and international visitors each year. Destination City is maximising the area’s appeal for workers and employers by enabling developers and investors to deliver these new buildings, whilst offering a first-class culture, leisure and hospitality scene.
Build, baby, build
However, there is much work to be done to ensure the Square Mile’s continued success. According to global property consultancy Knight Frank, availability in newly constructed sustainable office buildings in the City has fallen to 0.5 per cent and the City’s tallest office building at 22 Bishopsgate is now 100 per cent let. Meeting demand for commercial development is critical to attracting investment and providing sustainable workspaces.
Our research highlights the need for at least 1.2m square metres of additional office space by 2040 to maintain the City’s global competitiveness. The City Cluster, our long-established tall buildings area, will accommodate much of this growth, alongside strategies to encourage the retrofit of existing stock, drive down emissions, celebrate our extraordinary legacy of historic buildings and promote the Square Mile as an inclusive destination for all.
Growth in office development will drive economic growth across London and the whole UK, providing accommodation for tens of thousands of additional jobs over the next decade in growth industries, such as tech, business services and the creative arts.
That’s why we support the government’s reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), promoting a growth-focused approach, and we look forward to working with the Mayor and other partners across the capital, ensuring that the City of London continues to support national growth, which is needed now more than ever as the global outlook becomes more uncertain.
At MIPIM, we will be loudly and proudly banging the drum for London with a clear message: the City is open for business!
Chris Hayward is the policy chairman and political leader of the City of London Corporation