List of tallest buildings and structures in London

View of Canary Wharf from Greenwich Park in April 2011

View of the City and Southwark during the opening ceremony of the Shard London Bridge in July 2012

The list of the tallest buildings and structures in London ranks the high-rise buildings of the English city of London , United Kingdom . Since November 2010, the city’s tallest building is the Shard London Bridge . After completion of construction in 2012, its height was 309.7 meters, thus it became the tallest building in the European Union . Prior to this, the tallest building in London was a 50-storey 235-meter-tall One Canada Square , built in 1991 ^[1] . The third tallest building in the city is Heron Tower , located in the City. It was built in 2010 and has a height of 230 meters.

The history of high-rise buildings in London began in 1098, when the 27-meter White Tower was built - the central tower of the Tower of London ^{[2] [3]} . The first building, exceeding the height of 100 meters, was the Old Cathedral of St. Paul . Built in 1310, the cathedral had a height of 150 meters ^[4] . It was the tallest building in the world until 1311, when the Lincoln Cathedral was built ^[4] . In 1549, the central 160-meter spire of the Lincoln Cathedral collapsed and the Old Cathedral of St. Paul again became the tallest building on earth ^[5] . Despite the fact that on June 4, 1561, its spire was destroyed by a lightning strike, it still remained the tallest building in London ^[5] , giving up the title of the tallest building in the world to the Strasbourg Cathedral in France ^[4] . The Old Cathedral of St. Paul was destroyed during the Great London Fire in September 1666, and Southwark Cathedral 50 meters high became the tallest building in the city ^[6] . Before the construction of the Cathedral of St. Paul in 1710, the city did not have a single building above 100 meters ^[7] . St. Paul’s Cathedral, 111 meters high, remained the tallest building in London until 1962, when the BT Tower was built.

Despite the long history of London, there are not very many skyscrapers in the city. This is due to the restriction on the height of the building, imposed by the law on streamlining construction in London in 1894, which was adopted after the construction of the 14-storey building of Queen Anne. Despite the fact that restrictions have long been weakened, strict construction rules remain in the city to preserve the view of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and Palace of Westminster , and the buildings must comply with the requirements of the civil aviation authority.

The relaxation of restrictions on the height of buildings led to a boom in the construction of skyscrapers in the 1960s. One of the first significant skyscrapers was the 117-meter-high Center Point , built in 1966. In 1980, NatWest Tower was built, 183 meters high, which became the first London skyscraper meeting international standards. In 1991, 235-meter One Canada Square was built, which became the center of the Canary Wharf business district. Over the next ten years, several more skyscrapers appeared in the city: 8 Canada Square, 25 Canada Square, the buildings of Heron Quays, the headquarters of Barclays, Broadgate Tower and Mary X. Some of the buildings were awarded, for example, 30 St Mary Ax won the Emporis Skyscraper Award in 2003 ^[8] and the Stirling Prize in 2004 ^[9] .

After the construction of skyscrapers in Canary Wharf and with the assistance of the former mayor of London Ken Livingstone , the city began a trend towards the construction of high-rise buildings. So, in March 2012, the Shard London Bridge was brought under the roof, and 5 more buildings more than 100 meters high are under construction. It is planned that the 288-meter Pinnacle will become the central structure of the City.