Changing London

An historic city for a modern world

Our vision for London

The historic environment – London’s gardens, parks and landscapes, its waterways, its buildings
great and small, its streets, its public spaces – has proved to be crucial to London’s success.
It is not a brake on its prosperity. We must value the historic environment not just because
it is old but for what it offers today and in the future.

The historic and natural environments are two sides of the same coin – they are both part
of the green agenda. We need to help people understand that looking after the historic
environment is intrinsically linked to making London a sustainable city.

Conservation is about managing, not preventing, change. We must ensure that planners,
developers, architects and conservation bodies have the skills and tools to manage
change creatively.

It has proved to be far easier to regenerate areas where the historic environment is still much
in evidence than where little survives. We must help people to understand and capitalise
on the advantages the historic environment offers to run-down parts of London.

London’s open spaces are a unique asset that we must not squander. We must make the proper
funding, maintenance and protection of our open spaces a key priority.

Conservation is about the entire historic environment, not just about listed buildings. We must
value the streets and spaces in between and act to improve the quality of London’s streetscape.

Immense variety is one of London’s great strengths. We must not allow banality and uniformity
to replace local distinctiveness.

More than 90% of our urban fabric will still be with us in 30 years’ time. We need to ensure
the mechanisms are in place to secure its maintenance and good repair.

Many of the mistakes made in London in recent decades came out of ignorance. We must help
Londoners, ordinary individuals, politicians, developers, planners and architects to understand
and value their city.

Good new buildings are essential to London, but all new buildings, large and small, must respond
creatively to their context and start from a commitment to high quality design.

Nurturing its historic environment will make London a better place in which to live, to do
business, to relax and to play.

1
 Introduction

London is one of a handful of World Cities. It is the most important

and dynamic city in Europe. A vital ingredient in that success has been
its historic environment – its gardens, parks and landscapes, its waterways,
its buildings great and small, its streets, its public spaces – which provides
the texture of the city, its quality and its diversity.

The historic environment is key to London’s prosperity and a social asset

of immense value. Nearly all the most prosperous and desirable areas
in London, the places where people most want to live, work and visit,
are those where the historic environment is a dominant influence.
At the same time, the creative reuse of old buildings has helped
to regenerate previously failing parts of the city.

Conservation is about ensuring that we make the best use of that

historic environment. It is a tool for managing change. Some still believe
that conservation is simply about preserving the fabric of old buildings
unchanged.They fail to see that conservation is an overarching
philosophy, the opposite of the wasteful society.

It is easy to destroy – and today we have the tools, the money and the
technology to wreck London – but difficult to create. Historic buildings,
areas and landscapes are a finite resource. Once lost they are lost
forever.The purpose of conservation is to ensure that destruction is
kept to a minimum while allowing creativity and innovation to flourish.

2
 London the unique city

Unplanned, sprawling and immensely varied, London is unique among

European cities. Maintaining that uniqueness and variety is crucial
to its prosperity.

From its earliest days London has never had a single centre. Instead,
spreading nearly 15 miles in every direction, London is made up of an
infinite number of different communities. Some, like Bloomsbury, began
as planned urban quarters, while others, such as Petersham or Ruislip,
still retain their original village feel. Many grew up in the 19th and early
20th centuries around railway or Underground stations, key forces
in London’s growth. Each has its distinct character.

Today different neighbourhoods may merge one into another so that

to those passing through it can be hard to know where one ends and
the next begins, but to those who live there the sense of identity each
provides is vital.That identity begins with an area’s historic environment.

One driving force that has shaped London is the terrace house, and
more recently the semi-detached house, with its own front door and
garden. London’s garden squares are an equally distinctive feature of the
city. Open space is one of London’s vital ingredients. With Royal Parks
such as Hyde Park and old commons such as Clapham Common, the
parks of former country houses caught up in London such as Clissold
Park, ancient woodlands such as Highgate Wood and even farmland,
London is an unusually green city.

In recent decades London has changed dramatically. It has ceased to

be an industrial metropolis; the docks have moved downstream and the
vast railway yards have become redundant.The City of London, once
a bustling mix of warehouses and every sort of business, has come to
be dominated by finance, though today London’s financial heart spreads
from Canary Wharf to the West End. Social and economic forces have
seen the closure of the great mental asylums that once ringed London,
together with many smaller public buildings such as hospitals, town halls,

4
 “I like the fact that there’s a lot of heritage – the Edwardian,
the Victorian buildings, but then round the corner you can
have something really brand new. So it’s just the diversity.
Really, it’s got a bit of everything”.
Mahela Ashtar, Earls Court

banks, courts and barracks, a scale of disposal that rivals the Dissolution 1 & 2 Covent Garden,
once threatened with
of the Monasteries in the 16th century. demolition, is now
one of London’s most
But the spaces vacated have swiftly been colonised, bringing new life popular places.
to large areas of London. Mental asylums have been turned into homes,
3 & 4 Much of Notting Hill
banks into bars, warehouses into offices and studios, industrial wharves had declined into slums
developed as apartment blocks. by the 1950s.Today those
parts that were not
demolished are among
London’s housing stock has been transformed as a buoyant property
the most desirable in
market has brought new prosperity to whole areas. Streets and houses the capital
that were once scheduled for demolition are now highly desirable and
well maintained. At the same time London’s centre of gravity has shifted
eastwards with the establishment of Docklands as a popular area for
new housing and business.

The population of London has also changed dramatically.Two great

modern periods of immigration, from the Commonwealth in the 1950s,
’60s and early ’70s and of refugees since the fall of the Berlin Wall,
coupled with the arrival of Europeans benefiting from free mobility of
labour in the European Union, have made London the most diverse city
in the world. One-third of its population is comprised of ethnic minorities.

6
1 2

3 4

7
 Today after decades of falling population and employment, London is 1 Hanger Hill Estate, Ealing:
London has some of the
thriving. With a GDP of £120 billion it is the richest area in Europe. If it greatest suburbs in the
were a country, London would rank within the top 15 world economies world
– bigger than most European nations. London is one of the world’s most 2 Walthamstow Village:
visited cities, and most of those visitors are attracted by the qualities of many old villages still
survive within London
its historic environment. As a World City, it is the property of the world.
Tourism, now the second largest earner of foreign currency after financial 3 Bankside Power Station
has been adapted to
services, has grown to be one of the capital’s most important industries. become the immensely
successful Tate Modern
But London still has problems. It contains five of the ten most deprived
4 St Pancras Station, about
local authority areas, and has the second highest unemployment rate to become the terminus
in England after the North East, with wards in Tottenham, Haringey of the Channel Tunnel
and much of Tower Hamlets high on the national indices of deprivation. Rail Link, shows how
historic buildings can
be adapted to modern
The population has increased by 600,000 since 1989 to 7.4 million today, needs, capitalising
and is expected to rise another 700,000 by 2016. Housing such numbers on their historic and
without destroying the qualities that people value about London will be architectural qualities

an immense challenge.

Socially and economically, London has changed enormously in the past

20 years, but its built fabric has changed relatively little because it has
proved to be enormously adaptable.Today London has 40,000 listed
buildings, 860 conservation areas, three World Heritage Sites and over
600 protected London squares.The past 20 years has shown that these
are not a constraint to London’s economy but one of the main reasons
for its continued prosperity. London has prospered because of its historic
environment, not in spite of it.

8
1 2

3 4
 The sustainable city

Cities are a vital part of a sustainable world. Before the 1960s we

believed that the world was a boundless resource.Today we know
better. Endless demolition and rebuilding ignores the embodied energy
in existing fabric and the energy costs of new building – it takes a barrel
of oil’s worth of energy to produce four bricks – and is inherently
irresponsible.

But sustainability is more than just about physical resources. It is also

about community and culture, which combine to create the social capital
that makes cities work. Familiar neighbourhoods and landmarks provide
a sense of place and belonging in a city that can otherwise seem
overwhelmingly hostile. Destroying those neighbourhoods destroys
the social capital that makes the city work, as we saw to our cost
when large parts of London were demolished in the 1960s.

Conserving the historic environment is the other side of the coin

to conserving the natural environment. Looking after the historic
environment is intrinsically linked to making London a sustainable city.

10
 “You look at the size and you imagine it must have taken
years to build and taken many people. It’s a shame because
a lot of buildings nowadays are just knocked up and they
are just very boring and very straight”.
Tom Macklin, Ealing

1 2 2 3

1 Restoring the Wellington 2 We must not repeat 3 The Lansbury Estate

Arch: the craftsmanship, the mistakes of the in Tower Hamlets is an
the materials, the 1960s and 1970s; the example of a successful
embodied energy, redevelopment of Angell neighbourhood that
the associations of a Town in Brixton was needs to be protected
particular building are a disaster, and now the and enhanced
capital assets, the value concrete 1970s housing
of which has to be offset estate is being rebuilt 4 Nunhead Cemetery:
against proposals to as rows of traditional the natural and historic
demolish and rebuild terrace houses environments are
inextricably linked in
London’s cemeteries

12
 4

13
 The flexible city

According to the Urban Task Force, more than 90% of our urban fabric
will still be with us in 30 years. So let us care for what we have; it is an
opportunity not a problem. Most houses, and indeed most buildings,
if properly built and maintained, will last indefinitely. Intelligent repairs,
modernisation and adaptive re-use are more cost-effective (and
sustainable) than unthinking demolition.

As well as allowing people to live comfortably at high densities, the

traditional London terrace house has proved to be remarkably adaptable
and popular, preferred by people to almost anything else.Terrace houses
still provide an ideal template for sustainable urban living, combining
mixed uses and high densities with street life, community and a sense of
place. In recent decades we have discovered how adaptable all buildings
are and that it is much easier to regenerate depressed areas where the
historic environment is relatively intact than those where little survives.

We need to encourage everyone – Londoners, government, councils,

landlords – to ensure that the existing stock of buildings is properly
maintained.That VAT should be charged on repairs to old buildings
but not on new buildings is an anomaly that should be ended.

14
 1 2

1 St John’s, Hoxton, once 3 Borough Market, 4 Milner Square, Islington: a

had a troubled future; still Southwark: English mix of council and private
a church, it has now been Heritage has housing shows how
transformed into a centre demonstrated how essentially democratic
of community life development can be terrace houses are
integrated with existing
2 Keeling House, a Grade industrial and transport 5 Claybury Hospital,
II* listed modern building, structures Redbridge: the former
once seemingly doomed, chapel, now used
has been saved by the as a health club
changing economics
of East End housing

16
3 4

17
 The inclusive city

The historic environment is a physical reminder that London has always

been a city of immigrants and newcomers, with each generation leaving
its mark on buildings, in the names of streets and on the character
of whole areas.

Some may ask what London’s historic environment can mean to new
arrivals. At the very least it reminds newcomers and older inhabitants
alike that the city has been repeatedly energised by immigrants. But
equally important is the extraordinary flexibility of London’s building
stock, which has proved exceptionally adaptable to newcomers of every
culture, as the streets of Brixton, Brick Lane and Southall show.

We need to ensure that the informal flexibility of old buildings and areas
that has proved a seedbed for newcomers is not swept away in the
name of progress.

18
 1 3
1 The 18th century
synagogue of Bevis Marks
rivals any City church
2 Electric Avenue in
Brixton is just one of
innumerable Victorian
streets that have
proved easily adaptable
to newcomers
20
3 Huguenot weavers from
France built a chapel on
the corner of Fournier
Street and Brick Lane
in 1743: it was later
used as a synagogue
and is now a mosque
4 The names of London’s
streets are constant
reminders that London
has always been an
open city
4
 The green city

London’s parks, private gardens and open spaces, together with the
River Thames, London’s greatest open space, are the city’s lungs, one
of London’s defining characteristics; inherently accessible spaces that
are immensely valued by Londoners.

But London’s open space is under relentless pressure. Playing fields

and allotments are being sold off, the green belt eroded, local parks
increasingly neglected and even the Royal Parks consistently underfunded.
There is a continual threat from overuse and unsympathetic adjacent
development, while proposals to increase the density of the city
significantly are also likely to fall most heavily on open spaces.

London’s open spaces are a unique asset that we must not squander.
We must make our open spaces a key priority, not an optional extra,
not only working to create new parks and open spaces but making sure
that those we have are protected, looked after and properly funded.

22

1 St James’s Park: London’s
Royal Parks are a
priceless cultural asset
2 The view from
Richmond Hill: the
Thames Landscape
Strategy means that the
future of the river is being
looked at as a whole
24
1
3 Soho Square provides
welcome relief in the
heart of the city
4 Though greatly valued,
Clissold Park, Stoke
Newington, is caught in
a spiral of underfunding
and decline
2 3

25
 Londoners’ London

To most Londoners, what matters is what can be seen within a quarter

of an hour’s walk of their front door, the high street where they shop,
the place where they work, the park in which they play, the sense
of local distinctiveness. Conservation has to concern itself with this
streetscape, to see its value, to identify what is worth protecting and how
it can be improved.

This is not a recipe for stagnation, a blanket recipe for preservation,

but recognition that the ordinary, the everyday, plays a vital part
in all Londoners’ lives. Ordinary neighbourhoods are the backdrops
for communities that make life in the city enjoyable.They are part
of what every Londoner cherishes about the city.

London’s streetscape is under intense pressure with no single body

responsible for looking after it. We need to persuade national and local
government, the utilities and highway engineers that the streets we walk
down should be places for people which uplift, not depress, us.

26
 1 2
1 The quality achieved in
Kensington High Street
should be common
practice across London
2 Cluttered streetscape
creates a harsh,
unwelcoming
environment
28
3 Arnos Grove
Underground Station
reminds us of the
architectural quality to
be found across London
4 Woodgrange Road,
Forest Gate: a typical
London high street
that has benefited
from conservation-led
regeneration
3 4

29
 The image of modernity

In the global economy success is not based on the image of modernity

– glass-fronted offices, skyscrapers, motorways – but on factors such
as good communications and public transport, the rule of law, culture,
diversity and, in particular, where it is attractive and fun to live and work.

It is easy to mistake physical change for progress. Highly visible whole-

scale renewal is seen to be “modernising”, while good conservation
is about making imperceptible but significant changes.Too often
politicians, planners, developers and architects, now as in the 1960s,
think the solution to a problem is a building solution. Often it is not.
Successful cities are civilised cities offering quality neighbourhoods.
Economic success follows these civic values.

We must not tear the city apart to deal with yesterday’s problems. All
too often this year’s ‘essential’ building turns out to be very different from
next year’s ‘essential’ building.

30
 “I think my favourite building in London is St Pancras Station,
which is this beautiful design. But then I guess after the war,
when they started building all these tower blocks and
started ripping out all the bombed out parts of London, it
became a much more kind of modernist city and it doesn’t
really fit”.
Daniel Millar, Camden

1 2
RIBA Photo Library

1 Piccadilly Circus would
have been replaced by
soulless buildings had
campaigners not fought
to protect it
2 Paternoster Square:
hailed in the 1960s as
the ultimate modern
office precinct, it was
rapidly reviled and is
now being redeveloped
3 Elephant & Castle, once 4 Permission was granted
the Piccadilly Circus for a vast new financial
of south London, has services building for
never recovered from LIFFE in Spitalfields, said
the dislocation caused to be vital for the future
by its comprehensive of the City of London;
redevelopment in before it was even built,
the 1960s LIFFE’s methods of
trading had changed
completely and the
project was abandoned

32
3 4

33
 A force for change

Anyone who cares about the historic environment must welcome good
new architecture and improvements such as well-designed hospitals,
schools and a better transport infrastructure. Without these the historic
environment will not be refreshed and revitalised, as it has been in every
generation.

Conservation need not stand in the way of new buildings, even in the
most sensitive areas. Nor is it about playing it safe, about encouraging
poor quality, self-effacing designs in a misguided attempt not to upset
anyone. As the proportion of architectural awards for buildings on
sensitive sites shows, the stimulus of such challenges often brings out
the best from contemporary architects. What matters is the way that
new buildings, particularly large buildings, are integrated into the city.

All new buildings must respond creatively to context and start from a
commitment to high quality design. All too often this is missing in new
developments.To ensure it is always present we need to improve the
quality of decision-making in the planning process among planning
officers, developers, architects and conservation bodies.

34
 1 2

1 New housing at Lyme 3 Richard Rogers’ Lloyd’s 4 Merrill Lynch’s new

Terrace on the Regent’s
Canal demonstrates that
good quality new design
that enhances the historic
environment need not be
restricted to high-profile
projects
2 Perseverance Works,
Hackney: even modest
industrial buildings can
be creatively adapted
to new uses
Register of Shipping: headquarters on
the historic environment Newgate Street, one
provides a key to of the largest single
integrating large new office buildings in
buildings into the city London, retains part
and can foster, not of a listed building and
impede, good design a Roman bastion, now
open to the public

36
3 4

37
 Tall buildings: threat and opportunity

Tall buildings are one of the most sensitive issues facing London. By their
very visibility they can affect the lives, the sense of place and the sense of
identity of millions of people, while in parts of central London they could
overwhelm an already severely congested transport system.

Successive studies have concluded that tall buildings are not necessary
for the future of London as a global financial centre and that there is no
evidence that London will lose jobs to other cities without them. London
has flourished as a World City in the past 20 years by building medium-
and low-rise. By comparison, an enthusiastic policy for tall buildings in
Frankfurt has not prevented the steady seepage of German business
headquarters to London.

Tall buildings in the wrong places can do irreparable damage. If we

choose to have them then there are places where they could enhance
London without damaging the historic environment or the qualities
that make London special.The answer is not ad hoc, reactive, piecemeal
responses to unplanned, speculative proposals. It is a clear, rational, plan-
led approach, supported by national guidance.

38
 “I prefer quality housing with gardens front and back for
ordinary people to live in and enjoy. London at its best.
I’m against high rise and cheap housing”.
Steve Dunk, Bromley

1 2

1 City Road, Islington: many 3 The Swiss Re Tower, City

tall buildings erected in of London: nobody has
the 1960s were banal, demonstrated that tall
undistinguished and buildings are necessary,
destroyed the sense but if we choose to
of place have them, location
is paramount
2 It would be a mistake
to allow tall buildings 4 Canary Wharf, the
to squeeze out cherished Greenwich Peninsula,
historic views – like the Thames Gateway,
that of St Paul’s – that Croydon and Stratford
are central to London’s all offer wonderful
self-image possibilities for new
tall buildings

40
3 4

41
 Understanding London

London’s complexity and diversity can be unnerving. But to appreciate

London you need to understand it, and that means understanding its
historic environment.

An essential failure to understand the city and its buildings lies behind
much that has been most damaging in London in recent decades.This
is true of large developers who can transform large parts of the city
and of individuals who can destroy the character of a house through
ill-considered alterations.

Helping Londoners understand – and so value – the city they live in is

one of the key tasks of conservationists. Without studying the practical
lessons of history, it is impossible to sustain a great city.

42
 1
Photo:The Building Exploratory

1 The Hackney Building

Exploratory brilliantly
explains to young and
old how their local
community has been
formed, what makes
it special and how it
might be improved

2 Exciting archaeological
discoveries have
transformed our
understanding of
London’s past

44
 2

45
 The future

London faces enormous challenges and change. But it always has. Its
ability to cope with those changes over centuries, to move with the
times and yet remain the same essential London, lies at the heart
of its success in an ever more competitive global economy.

There are those who think that it would be the sign of economic
success if London looked much like any other large city across the
globe. But London’s strength lies in its incredible variety, variety that
provides for social and economic stability because it permits change.
Cities dominated by a single industry, or that are too regimented and
uniform, find it difficult to adapt to the rapidly changing circumstances
of globalisation.The historic environment is an essential part of that
variety and that uniqueness.

We all want to live in a city that competes with the best anywhere in
the world and we are lucky enough to be able to do so. We do not
have to choose between conservation and modernity. We can have
both. Indeed, we need both. London is a vast city that needs to use
its resources efficiently. Conservation is a tool to ensure that happens.

The London of tomorrow will understand, recognise and value its

historic assets. Change will be thoughtful, incremental and responsive
to the needs of its people. Careful placemaking and good design will
be key to its evolution. Where necessary the worst of the past will be
swept away, but not at the expense of urban quality and liveable spaces,
buildings and places.There will be new emphasis on, and investment in,
public spaces, for great cities are made as much by how they handle
space as by their buildings.

London has unimaginable opportunities to adapt itself to change, but

there has been a failure of imagination in grasping those opportunities.
We need to stretch our imaginations.The innovative adaptation of
London’s historic environment is an essential part of reinforcing the
diverse qualities of place that make London so special.

46
 What Londoners say about London

We asked Londoners what they thought about London’s historic environment and their response
was unequivocal.They care deeply about it.The vast majority of Londoners say they are interested
in the historic environment, feel that it is worth saving and recognise that it can play an important
part in the city’s regeneration. Most Londoners do not feel that we preserve too many of
the city’s buildings and believe that the River Thames, public spaces and parks should be
given more protection.

Seven out of ten London residents disagree that we preserve too many of London’s buildings.

Nearly 70% believe that the historic environment includes buildings in the local neighbourhood,
as well as grand buildings.

Four out of five believe that the historic environment can play an important part in regenerating
towns and cities.

Three-quarters are opposed to tall buildings being built in their local area and three out of five
opposed more tall buildings across the rest of London.

The condition of streets and pavements is seen as the most serious problem for London’s
historic environment.

Two out of five believe the condition of London’s gardens and parks to be a serious problem.

Seven out of ten think that derelict buildings are a serious problem and two-thirds that the
demolition of historic buildings due to neglect is a serious problem.

Two-thirds think there is a lack of funds to save the city’s historic environment and that local
and central government have little interest in the issue.

The River Thames, public spaces and parks are three things that London residents
would particularly like to see given more protection. Half would like the skyline to
have more protection.

MORI Poll, August 2002

48
“ The National Trust welcomes the publication of Changing
London and the contribution it makes to the debate about the
role of the historic environment in the regeneration of London”.
Keith Halstead,The National Trust

“ London’s rich historic heritage – buildings, ancient village centres,

open spaces and historic place-names – is what attracts tourists
to the city. But it is first and foremost the basis of our identity
as Londoners, as well as a vital resource for education and
regeneration. It is essential that Londoners are made aware
of it and taught to value it”.
Michael Hammerson,The London Forum of Amenity Societies

“ This document clear ly demonstrates the diversity and

importance of London’s green open spaces in the context
of an assessment of the value of London’s historic realm”.
William Weston, Royal Parks

“ We welcome Changing London. If you look at an area

like Clerkenwell which has changed dramatically, socially
and economically over the last few years, it is its ability to
accept a great diversity of new uses which makes it so exciting.
The adaptability of London’s historic environment never
ceases to amaze”.
John Sell, Joint Committee of National Amenity Societies

“ From Royal Palaces to terrace houses, London’s historic

environment is diverse and complex. Changing London is
a welcome initiative, encouraging all of us to celebrate and
value this rich mix”.
John Barnes, Historic Royal Palaces
Designed by Wordsearch. Additional photography by Boris Baggs/ Matt Mawson