Tall Buildings - guidance under review

English Heritage and Design Council launched a six week consultation in October-November 2014 on their joint Tall Buildings advice. This document is a revision of Guidance on Tall Buildings 2007 produced by English Heritage and CABE.

There has been an upswing in the number of applications for tall buildings. Over the last seven years both English Heritage and Design Council have commented on many tall building applications and our experience is reflected in the draft advice out for consultation. The National Planning Policy Framework has also changed Government Planning Policy and the revised document now reflects this.

The main principles from the original document remain the same: that in the right place; well-designed tall buildings make positive contributions to city life and can be excellent works of architecture in their own right and stimulate investment.  However, by virtue of their size and visibility, such buildings can also harm the qualities that people value about a place. One of the principal failings of certain tall buildings is the lack of appreciation or understanding of the immediate and wider context both visually and in terms of impact on heritage.

This is the right moment to ensure both applicants and decision makers have the tools they need to deliver high quality developments.

Clare Devine, Director of Architecture and Built Environment, Design Council

Clare Devine, Director of Architecture and Built Environment at Design Council said: "Since we published our Tall Buildings Guidance with English Heritage in 2007 we have seen an increase in the number of tall buildings coming to Cabe Design Review. This is the right moment to ensure both applicants and decision makers have the tools they need to deliver high quality developments that are also sustainable, prosperous places".

Guidance under review

Design Council and English Heritage hosted a public consultation from 16 October until 30 November 2014 to hear views on the revised Tall Buildings document, which gives advice on the heritage and design issues related to tall buildings in the planning system. 

Download and read the draft consultation document:

Download Revision of Tall Buildings Guidance pdf (File type: .pdf)

The consultation closed on 30 November. We will now study the responses to inform final revision of the text. We envisage issuing the new advice in early 2015 under the joint names of Design Council and Historic England (English Heritage will become Historic England from April 2015).