NLA Tall Buildings Conference: A shared outlook for London

This year’s Tall Buildings Conference at One Leadenhall, sponsored by Permateelisa, fell on a warm spring day and was a sellout event. Leading figures from across the industry shared latest updates on regulations, planning, construction, materials, and market trends, taking the opportunity to reflect collectively on the industry’s priorities, and come together around a shared vision for London’s skyline.

Market outlook

Owen Wainhouse, Associate Director at NLA shared topline data from The NLA London Tall Buildings Survey 2026 showing that while there has been a modest dip in planning applications, London’s tall buildings pipeline remains strong, with a new generation of very tall schemes coming forward. Owen highlighted that delivery continues to be challenged by viability pressures, funding constraints and wider market conditions, and the discussion centred around how tall buildings can continue to support the delivery of ambitious housing targets across London.

BSR approvals on the up

John Palmer, Deputy Director of Operations at the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) was pleased to report that the overall approval rate for Gateway 2 applications (major building projects) has risen to over 65%, representing a significant success in clearing backlogs and improving application quality. He also flagged that the regulator is doing more to talk to applicants about design.

Deliverability in construction

Callum Tuckett, Director at Multiplex, called for a shift from an output driven approach to an input driven approach in construction, calling on clients to take more time upfront in the process to improve deliverability and negate risk. He also highlighted recent advances in the industry, including the impacts of AI-supported design and construction and advanced off-site fabrication, bringing down the number of operatives required on site, and related carbon savings.

A dataset for the city

Simon Long, Lead Project Manager at the Greater London Authority (GLA), shared news of the launch of The Planning London Datahub (PLD), a live, open-access database for all planning applications and development data across London’s 35 planning authorities, creating a single, consistent dataset – helping to monitor the London Plan, support digital planning, and improving transparency around changing neighbourhoods.

The high-rise lived experience

Julia Middleton, Real Estate Economist at PriceHubble discussed the latest findings from The NLA London Tall Buildings Survey 2026, which shows that Londoners are actively choosing high-rise living, with tall buildings increasingly seen as an aspirational way to live and work in the capital. She shared analysis of residential towers built within the last 10 years which shows that residents are typically a young, high-earning, globally mobile set, attracted to tall buildings by their connectivity, quality and proximity to employment and amenities.

Adaptive re-use and material innovation

Hans Jansen, Lead Concept Design at Permasteelisa Group, talked about the market shift to refurbishing tall buildings, and the opportunities and carbon savings, as well as the complexities and challenges this brings from a façade perspective. He emphasised the importance of industry innovations, like Slimline CCF, to ensure a smarter and greener generation of skyscrapers that will remain resilient in the face of climate change. He was joined by Giota Kotsovinou, Associate Director at Canary Wharf Group, who shared the Group’s impressive approach to adaptive reuse and mixed-use transformation, and its innovative vertical neighbourhood strategy to create a 24/7 district.

Tall buildings and the public realm

Tom Sleigh, Chair Planning and Transport Committee, City of London Corporation, Anna Shapiro, Partner, Sheppard Robson, and Sharon Giffen, Head of Design at Earls Court Development Company, shared a series of inspiring case studies, demonstrating how the capital’s tall buildings are shaping life at ground level, contributing to London’s placemaking, public realm and its cultural offer.

All about One Leadenhall

Throughout the day the audience heard from Ken Shuttleworth, Founding Partner at Make Architects, Dan Scanlon, President of Brookfield Properties and Russell Whitehead, Director at Robert Bird Group, collectively representing the project’s architectural practice, developer, and structural engineer, while Permasteelisa is proud to have created the One Leadenhall façade. Attendees enjoyed the opportunity to take in the views from the scheme’s impressive roof terrace

Thank you to NLA for an insightful event, and we look forward to reconvening next year.