The City of London Corporation is urging the Greater London Authority (GLA) to recognise the Fleet Valley area, north of Fleet Street, as a suitable location for buildings 100 metres and taller in the draft London Plan. The move aims to support projected jobs growth in the Square Mile, which could see employment rise by 192,000 between 2024 and 2050, from 676,000 today.
Fleet Valley's potential for tall buildings
Currently, the only City location listed in the draft plan's tall building clusters is the area around The Gherkin. Other designated areas include Canary Wharf, Croydon, and the Greenwich Peninsula. The Corporation argues the GLA has not fully assessed the potential for tall buildings across the City and underestimates the additional office space required.
In its response to the London Plan consultation, officers noted that the Corporation's own City Plan 2040, expected to be adopted by the end of the year, includes a minimum target of 1.2 million square metres of new office space by the close of the next decade. The GLA's study suggests 1.4 million square metres is required by the London Plan's 2050 end-date, a figure the Corporation disputes.
Designation could boost investor confidence
The Corporation is proposing that the Fleet Valley, roughly between New Fetter Lane and Farringdon Street, be designated a future potential tall building cluster. In an annex presented to the Planning and Transportation Committee last week, officers wrote: “The Fleet Valley Cluster has the potential to meet the criteria for designation of a Metropolitan tall building area, and should have been included in the GLA’s evidence base.”
They added: “This area is included in the emerging City Plan 2040. Building heights of up to 90m in this area have been through rigorous examination as part of the City Plan examination, and additional expansion of this area would be the most logical location to accommodate the level of growth required. Fleet Valley is highly accessible, it has the scale, size and number of large building plots appropriate for tall building agglomeration. It has great growth potential with minimal impact on strategic views, when compared to other parts of the City with a similar size and scale of building plots.”
Transport infrastructure concerns
Common Councillor Shravan Joshi, a former Planning and Transportation Chair, raised the issue at the committee meeting, stressing the need for major investment in local public transport. He told members: “If our worker population is going to grow by a third by 2050 we need to be thinking about mass public transport for 2050 today, because we know it takes decades for anything to happen in London infrastructure.”
Joshi expressed disappointment that Crossrail 2 is not planned to serve the City, with the nearest stops at Angel, Euston, and Tottenham Court Road. He suggested officers request an amendment to the route to run through the western part of the Square Mile, saying: “I think it’s really important we don’t miss this opportunity to make our claim on that. If we are going to have that third of increase and it’s going to be focussed on that Fleet Valley area, we need that public transport to really match that growth.”
A lack of designation for Fleet Valley in the London Plan would not necessarily prevent new schemes, but inclusion would give investors greater confidence when developing proposals.
Responses and next steps
A City of London Corporation spokesperson said: “We welcome the draft London Plan and its recognition of the Square Mile's role as a globally significant business and financial centre. There is a strong case for recognising Fleet Valley as a location with the potential to accommodate sustainable commercial growth and the City Corporation is keen to play its part in unlocking investment, supporting jobs and strengthening London's competitiveness. We look forward to further engagement with the GLA to ensure the final London Plan provides the certainty needed to support these ambitions.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, said: “The draft London Plan is currently out for public consultation and all stakeholders are encouraged to provide their feedback. The plan sets out a tall buildings policy which emphasises the need for metropolitan clusters to be in appropriate locations and designed to the highest architectural standard. The Metropolitan scale tall building locations have been underpinned by a detailed tall building study, which provides the rationale and assessment behind the locations identified.”
The consultation on the draft London Plan runs until October 15. It will then undergo an independent Examination in Public before formal adoption, expected in early 2028.
