The Gleaming Spires of London – an armchair tour of London’s finest buildings

London boasts a remarkable range of architecture and this talk reveals the evolution of the capital through its great buildings. We start with a brief look at the development of architecture in the capital and then focus on the modern. Whether we like it or not, there are currently well over 500 new buildings planned in London over twenty storeys high, including dozens more than twice this height. This is in ddition to those already completed. This talk looks at the best of these buildings including the cutting-edge designs of the latest towers such as the Shard, the Walkie-Talkie, the Cheesegrater, the Scalpel and 22 Bishopsgate. We will discover their amazing architectural and engineering challenges and also examine the controversies and difficult social decisions needed to manage this dramatically changing skyline.