The Mayor said: 'Well-designed tall buildings can add to London's skyline and become new landmarks for the capital. Architectural quality is the key. Office space is at a premium in the City and as a result costs are soaring. If this continues there is a real danger that London will lose business to other European cities.'
But he said such large-scale development could only be viable if there was more investment in public transport, for instance through the Crossrail scheme, to serve the areas where the new towers would be clustered.
Over the last 20 years, the biggest constraint on the construction of tall buildings has been the need to protect views of historic buildings, especially St Paul's Cathedral. Livingstone proposed that this policy should be reviewed, to protect only the views that are of real value.
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