London's skyline is poised for a facelift over the next decade as the capital's appetite for new skyscrapers strengthens, with more than 500 tall buildings currently in the pipeline.

There are now 510 tall buildings – those over 20 storeys – ready for development, up from 455 in 2016, an annual survey by New London Architecture (NLA) and GL Hearn found.

Canary Wharf and the Docklands continue to hold the highest number of tall buildings in the pipeline, with 70 towers planned in Greenwich and 85 in Tower Hamlets, both up from the previous year.

In the City, 10 skyscrapers are in the pipeline, but seven of the 32 boroughs, including Kensington & Chelsea and Bexley, were found to have no tall buildings in development. Buildings in zones three, four and five make up almost a third of the entire pipeline. 

More than 300 projects will have fewer than 30 storeys, but nearly 28 new buildings will be built with 50 storeys or more, and the City was noted as having the tallest height of buildings in the pipeline at an average of 43.4 storeys.

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Peter Murray, the chairman of NLA, said with London's population on the rise and demand for new homes only getting higher, "our view remains that that well designed tall buildings, in the right place, are part of the solution".

More than 90 per cent of the buildings proposed, in planning or under construction are being built for residential purposes, and NLA estimated they have the potential to deliver 106,000 new homes.

However, while a record number of 115 buildings are under construction, NLA warned of a possible slowdown as it takes longer for projects to get off the ground.

According to the group's findings, only 18 tall buildings were completed in 2017, down 30 per cent from the previous year. At the same time, work started on 40 buildings last year, down by a quarter from 2016.

The rate of applications has also dropped by 10 per cent from 2016 as political and economic uncertainties created by Brexit cause projects to be postponed and the higher stamp duty introduced by George Osborne in December 2014 continues to impact the market.

"Uncertainties and challenges to deliver these tall buildings remain, which is perhaps why we are seeing a slight slowdown in the in the number of applications, construction starts and completions," Murray said.

"However our reports over the past five years show us in the right places, towers allow us to use the finite resource of land very efficiently.”

Stuart Baillie, planning director at GL Hearn, added: "Whilst there is a notable slowdown in the volume of new tall buildings entering the pipeline compared to the high of 2016, the rate is actually increasing in the boroughs of Southwark, Newham, Hammersmith & Fulham and Croydon.

"Inner London remains the focus for the majority of tall building, but Waltham Forest and Bromley feature in the pipeline for the first time."

Source: City AM