DjMagra’s stuff ‘n’ stuff

There’s an interesting opinion piece in today’s Guardian penned by Simon Jenkins, discussing the ever increasing (and planned) number of high rise buildings in London. Since moving over, I’ve been in awe of the number of high rise buildings going up. I currently live in the highest residential property in the UK (though, that’s soon to change and I absolutely love high rise. Seeing some of the towers that are going up around the city, as well as some of those planned is really exiting. I personally think that high-rise is the way forward, having lived in Ireland, seeing the urban sprawl, as Dublin moves further and further out to the suburbs due to the lack of space to build housing / offices, due to planning restrictions on high rise buildings, I can certainly see the benefit.

Simon Jenkins is complaining about these, saying that they are betraying London’s heritage, and spoling the view. He is blaming Mayor Ken Livingston for circumventing planning laws in order to have these erected as a means of boosting his ego (with a slight suggestion at the fact that Ken’s pockets may be lined by the businesses involved in building these). I’m not for circumventing the correct planning process, but I do think that planning laws should certainly be favourable to high rise buildings.

Now, if only Ireland, and especially Dublin City Council could learn a little from this, perhaps we may eventually see something revolutionary and spectacular happen.