THE EVER-CHANGING LONDON LANDSCAPE
For almost 20 years I have been walking the streets of the City and never cease to be surprised at the questions that come up frequently. Those who have been joining me over that period are always talking about change – the rise of more towering office blocks, increasing pedestrianisation, limits on traffic in the central areas, the increasing numbers of people peddling around and high-rise roof gardens.
The amount of green spaces, decorated window boxes, pocket parks and the concentration of ‘clusters’ the redevelopment of areas where older and with less eco-friendly structures have been bulldozed to the ground and are being replaced by blocks with 50, 60 and ever higher floor levels.
Even as a regular walker around the City I have to make sure that buildings, passageway and alleys where I stop to give historical and cultural information are the same as they have been for years. That’s not always the case so I then regret not making a solo visit some days before a proposed walk to make sure nothing has changed too much.
Even then I can be caught out. Demolition is quick and ruthless. Surely the Clothworkers Livery hall was there last month. But no. As part of the ‘Eastern Cluster’ near Fenchurch Street Station it is being replaced and the piles are going deeper to meet the architectural demands for a new 35 storey building that will take its place.
That is an example of another clash between the future and past and my walkers are often quick to want more answers about why that should be happening. We talk then about modernisation, the need to have buildings that are ‘fit for purpose’. Health and safety is an issue? How can the older historic buildings be protected ? What about the advancing technology that must be addressed? The questions keep coming – and some of my reasoning is hardly convincing. And opinions about what is happening in the City are not always complimentary.
When the Clothworkers’ Hall is finally up and running it will be the seventh livery hall on the site. The first was the Shearmen’s Hall built in 1456. For the time being, the new hall doesn’t have a nickname like The Gherkin or The Scalpel. It is simply 50 Fenchurch Street.
But the old historic buildings – the tower of All Hallowes Staining and the Lambe’s Chapel crypt – which are right at the centre of all the construction work have the protection of a Grade II listing.
Change seems inevitable in the modern City of London with wider, larger and more expensive developments planned for the future. Make no mistake, these ‘Clusters’ are changing the landscape. But I have a question as well. Is all this really necessary?