Source: John Victor Cooper of Putney
Houses are no longer affordable to the average Joe. Twenty years ago, teachers and clerks could comfortably buy a pad in Putney but the zooming house prices, which started before the recession and are likely to continue after it’s over, have put paid to many people’s plans to buy property through an estate agent in Putney. There is, however, one solution to this and it comes in the architecturally displeasing form of modern high rises. High rises blocks make property inexpensive and compact to house Putney’s burgeoning population, but they are also eyesores and take away from the ‘village feel’ of long-established London boroughs. What Putney now finds itself in is a catch 22. Does the municipality give permission for the high rise flats and offices that are so desperately needed in the UK in order for people to be able to buy property or do they give in to local pressure and allow overcrowding and sky rocketing house prices to continue?
Last November, the plans for two skyscrapers opposite East Putney underground station were turned down by Wandsworth Council and London Mayor Boris Johnson. Wandsworth planning committee said that the towers would have loomed large over the domestically scaled surrounding area. The scheme featuring a 25-storey block and a 19-storey block also did not comply with environmental building guidelines set by the Government’s advisor on architecture, CABE, and English Heritage. Essentially, the Wandsworth council wants to ensure that new buildings fit in the surrounding areas and do not detract from the residential atmosphere.
There is only one solution to solving this dilemma. High rises will have to be allowed at some point; London’s population is breaking at the seams and the city council has to take measures to ensure everybody is housed and that the standard of housing in the city does not fall. There are, however, environmental concerns and building regulations to take into consideration. The government is concerned with the sustainability and energy efficiency of buildings as well as how they will fit in with existing architecture. If a team of residential architects, council representatives and environmental engineers could collaborate to build luxury and middle-range high-rises that will complement the surroundings rather than mar them and supply sufficient housing and office blocks then all parties will be satisfied.
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