A stunning series of images have captured London’s dramatic skyline as it undergoes radical changes over the years.
From vertiginous vantage points, James Burns has photographed the capital’s ever-changing landscape over a ten-year period.
His pictures, taken during misty dawns and electric midnight storms, capture world-famous heritage sites sitting in the shadow of skyscapers including The Shard and The Gherkin, with cranes in-situ ready to get started on the next high-rise.
Mr Burns is now showcasing his work as the decade draws to a close. He said: ‘I thought what better time to take a look back at what has been a phenomenal ten years for the skyline of our great city. Before the 2010’s began, not a great deal had changed since the turn of the millennium.
‘We all fell in love with The Gherkin but it seemed that when I was starting out, London was demolishing more high-rise buildings than it was actually building them, as 1960’s council housing tower blocks were being torn down in significant numbers.
‘When the Olympics were announced in 2005, the wheels of motion for dramatic change began to turn. Brownfield sites, industrial areas, social housing estates and old office blocks were earmarked for regeneration on a scale London hadn’t seen since the post-war housing boom.’
- The exhibition is on at The Steel Yard, London from November 19 to 21, from 12pm to 11pm.
2009-2019: As the decade draws to a close, these images show how London’s skyline has changes over a ten-year period
This tabbed-up graphic shows the newest skyscrapers towering about the Capital; including The Scalpel, The Walkie Talkie, The Shard and One Blackfriars
2019: The Lord Mayor’s Hot Air Balloon Regatta, the official ballooning event of The City of London and the aerial extension of the historic Lord Mayor’s Show. Each year up to fifty hot air balloons take flight across central London raising awareness and funds for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. The 2019 event launched from Battersea Park on Sunday June 9 and saw 46 hot air balloons fill London’s skyline at 5.30am, raising £76,000 for The Lord Mayor’s Appeal
2019: This photograph taken in October shows sunrise as summertime ends in London and winter begins to creep in
2018: A somewhat less-than-typical view of St Paul’s Cathedral, surrounded by trees rather than the usual cityscape
2017: Lightning hits the City and 30 St Mary Axe – otherwise known as The Gherkin
2017: The full moon over The Gherkin, The Cheesegrater and St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London
2017: A rainbow over the City of London. James Burns said: ‘I won’t shy away from saying that shiny new London has come at a cost though. Many Londoners this decade have been priced out of their own city and whereas the post-war housing boom saw homes built for the working class, the percentage of ‘affordable homes’ being built these days is a disgrace’
2016: Italian architect Renzo Piano’s creation, The Shard, towers 95-storeys in the Shard Quarter development – looking across the water to Canary Wharf and The City of London on the other side of the Thames
2016: Mist clearing at sunrise over the Gherkin and the Shard in the City of London
2015: A full moon over the City – showing St Paul’s, The Cheesegrater, The Gherkin and 20 Fenchurch Street
2010: The Gherkin towers above its neighbours (left) while St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey take centre stage as One Canada Square reaches 770 feet above ground level (back right)
2009: ‘Before the 2010’s began, not a great deal had changed since the turn of the millennium. We all fell in love with The Gherkin but it seemed that… London was demolishing more high-rise buildings than it was actually building them, as 1960’s council housing tower blocks were being torn down in significant numbers’
A record 76 new skyscrapers will stand against the capital’s skyline as more towers hit London than any other year in the city’s history.
This year will see more buildings of 20 storeys or more being erected, which is more than three times the total that were finished last year.
Figures revealed today by the London Tall Buildings Survey show the highest concentration will be in the borough of Tower Hamlets, once famed for being home to the working classes that populated the East End.
This year will see more skyscrapers built in the capital than ever before, with most falling in Tower Hamlets (pictured, with the highest concentration of blue projected towers, above, north of the meander on the River Thames). The second-highest number of towers will hit Lambeth, across the river. The projections above show most of the East End’s towers will crop up around Canary Wharf, close to the iconic One Canada Square building (pictured, above, with a triangular top)
Newfoundland, also know as Newfoundland Quay and The Diamond Tower, is one of the skyscrapers set to alter the capital’s skyline this year. The 220-metre tall residential building is being built on the Isle of Dogs, on the southern portion of Tower Hamlets that juts out into the River Thames
Pictured: 22 Bishopsgate in the City (above, with three columns running along its side, to the left of the triangular Leadenhall Building). The building, which will be completed this year, was originally designed to be 307m tall, but was forced to reduce to 288 metres when the Civil Aviation Authority objected to its plans
Pictured: A computer-generated image of Ravensbourne Wharf, a new 26-storey tower which is planned for Greenwich in south-east London. It will be one of 76 skyscrapers that is set to be completed by the end of 2019
In the borough – which includes the districts of Mile End, Bethnal Green and Whitechapel – 18 new buildings will pop up. The second-highest amount will be in the southern borough of Lambeth, where 11 are set to be built.
Buildings due for completion include the Can of Ham at St Mary Axe in the financial district as well as 22 Bishopsgate.
It comes after the number of skyscrapers in London hit an all-time high last year, when there were 541 listed across the capital.
The findings were publish in New London Architecture and GL Hearn’s sixth London Tall Buildings Survey, which is published yearly.
This skyscraper is one of 18 that will be completed in the East End borough of Tower Hamlets. One Park Drive will sit on the southern tip of the borough in an area that used to be called Wood Wharf. The property is being developed by Canary Wharf Group in the area of London that will see more buildings completed this year than any other
Nine Elms Point in Lambeth, Embassy Gardens in Wandsworth and the Chelsea Waterfront will also see new skyscrapers finished.
The findings show that there are currently 121 buildings under construction, also a record high following 2017’s landmark of 115.
The boroughs of Camden, Barnet and Hounslow have skyscrapers under construction for the first time in their history.
London’s skyline has already completely changed in comparison to how it looked just ten years ago (pictured)
Notable additions include 20 Fenchurch Street, also known as the Walkie-Talkie (the nearest skyscraper to the Thames in this snap) and the Leadenhall building (pictured just behind 30 St Mary Axe, known locally as the Gherkin for its shape)
The Wardian, pictured, is among the buildings set to be complete this year. It is comprised of two skyscrapers, and will be on the Isle of Dogs in east London, near the financial district of Canary Wharf