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Language: en-GB

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In Richmond Park, a huge royal park and nature
reserve in west London,

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there's this odd avenue of trees.

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And in central London there is this: the Cheesegrater,
an odd wedge-shaped tower block. Why build

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it that shape, when you could keep it the
same all the way up and about double the amount

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of space you can rent out?

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Well, to explain, I've come here: this is
the New London Model, in the NLA Galleries

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at The Building Centre. It is a massive, interactive
scale model of London, showing all sorts of

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data about the city -- including these.

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These are protected views, or sightlines.
Back in the 1930s, London started to get what

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were, for the time, tall buildings like Unilever
House -- now it seems tiny, only a few storeys

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high, but it was enough to start blocking
some views of St Paul's Cathedral -- which

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was the tallest building in the city, and
had been for centuries. It was only beaten

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by the Post Office Tower in 1962. There was
a public outcry about this, and so, the local

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authorities have protected certain views of
the cathedral, and of the Houses of Parliament.

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That avenue of trees in Richmond Park points
straight at St Paul's Cathedral -- even though

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you can only really see St Paul's through
a telescope, you will always be able to see

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St Paul's, through a telescope, from there.
There'll never be a tall building to block

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the view. And crucially, no-one's allowed
to build something behind St Paul's either,

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because that'd spoil the view just as badly.
Heck, you can't build anything tall near St

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Paul's, because it'd ruin the view from the
riverside: the One New Change shopping centre,

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next door to St Paul's, is very carefully
designed to get around all these restrictions.

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Have a look at the Shard, London's tallest
building: it's bounded left and right by these

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protected views, but it sits just outside
them.

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And all that explains the Cheesegrater's odd
shape: the view of St Paul's from Fleet Street

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had to be protected, and the tower 'leaning
back' was enough to satisfy the planning committee.

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So the question remains: how long can it last?
London is going vertical, steadily, as a housing

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bubble and foreign investment pushes rents
and building ever higher. In a hundred years,

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when this model's been replaced by some futuristic
hologram: will you still be able to stand

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in Richmond Park and see St Paul's?

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Or will money have won out over history?

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