LONDON TO CLIMB HIGHER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 198, 23 July 1931, Page 7

LONDON TO CLIMB HIGHER.

ATTACK ON ARCHAIC BUILDING LAWS. WIDER STREETS AND MORE LIGHT. Drastic changes in London’s archaic building laws, which are to be considered shortly by the London County Council, will, it is claimed, revive Britain’s building steel industry; produce a new type of commercial architecture; make room for wider roads, which will reduce traffic congestion and give more light and air to city workers. One of the main recommendations which the council will consider will be to increase the height limit of London buildings, which is at present restricted to eighty feet. Buildings of the new order are foreshadowed by proposed new offices on the site of the old Hotel Cecil, which will include a giant clock tower on the Embankment. The whole force of the building trades and the steel industry, backed by business houses and architectural experts, will be thrown in support of the changes which .will come before the London County Council. INDUSTRY IMPEDED. It is not expected, however (says the Sunday Express) that re-planning on American skyscraper lines will be advocated. An increase of the limit to 150 feet will be as far as most will urge. The present laws have not kept progress with modern building tendencies, and the industry is being impeded by antiquated legal machinery. Industrial buildings in one district are costing double what similar buildings cost in another. International concerns have found that a factory in England costs nearly double what it would on the Continent —and this has resulted in the scrapping of many plans for extension in this country. Britain’s difficulty in keeping pace with the demand for more up-to-date hotels is largely due to antiquated building laws.