Skyscraper London: why the capital is on the rise According to the construction group CBRE, 13,600 high-rise apartments are currently being built, with another 70,000 in the pipeline. Most are being constructed in clusters: at Battersea and Vauxhall, in the City, at Canary Wharf, at Stratford and along the stretch of road between Angel and King's Cross. At the same time, there are two developments planned for Croydon and three for the Greenwich and Deptford area, along with proposals for high-rise flats at Earls Court, White City and Brent Cross. Even the unglamorous Old Oak Common, near Harlesden, may get an "iconic" skyscraper of the kind more usually associated with New York or Hong Kong. Statute ensures that St Paul's can be seen from these locations across the capital What a difference three decades makes. Thirty years ago, the word "high-rise" was associated with something very different. Not with expensive, privately-owned skypads, but with ramshackle council flats, broken lifts and blocked rubbish chutes. Today, by contrast, tower block means power block. This is demonstrated by the names the developers have chosen. Forget One Hyde Park - soon we'll have One Tower Bridge, One Nine Elms, One Blackfriars and One The Elephant. And the asking prices for the homes will be mainly in the millions. So what happened to make high-rises suddenly acceptable? The answer, it seems, is simple. Population growth. From 2011-12, the number of people living in the capital grew by 1.3 per cent, to 8.3 million. And that was just the start of it: by 2031, there will be 10 million Londoners, and by 2050, 11 million. So what are the planners to do in the face of this increase? "What we can't do is impose some kind of freeze on the skyline and suspend the capital in stasis," says Sir Edward Lister, the Greater London Authority's deputy mayor for planning. At the same time, though, the obvious alternative - building new homes on Green Belt sites - is equally unpalatable. So if the city can't expand outwards, the only way is up. "The planners have accepted that it's in London's interest to allow upward development," says Jon White, the UK managing director of property management giants Turner and Townsend. "If you can't build out, you have to build up," says George Kyriacou, managing director of CIT Developments, which is currently converting the old 30-storey IPC Magazines office building (King's Reach Tower) into a 41-storey apartment block (new name South Bank Tower). Everything, it seems, is getting bigger. Indeed, just as the South Bank Tower is going to have more storeys than its predecessor, so the development a mile down river at One Nine Elms will be 50 metres higher than the original 150-metre limit. "We simply convinced Wandsworth Council and the Greater London Association that you can't have buildings all the same uniform height," explains Kyriacou. It's no secret why developers want to build towers as tall as possible. The higher an apartment block is, the more money it makes. A rule of thumb is that each floor adds at least 1.5 per cent onto the value of an apartment. "The fact is someone will pay more to be on the 29th floor than they will to be on the 27th floor," says Mark Dorman, head of London residential development at Strutt and Parker. They are marketing the two new towers at Nine Elms (56-storey City Tower and 45-storey River Tower, ready in 2017). Surprisingly, too, as has been discovered in New York, you will get as much money for a high-rise apartment facing another high-rise block as you will for an apartment facing the river. The same rule applies in London; you'll get more for an apartment with a view of The Shard or the Gherkin than you will for one with a view of the Thames. People in high-rises like to look at other high-rises. Of course, there are plenty of people who view the sprouting of a tower-block forest as a blight on the London landscape. "Dubai on Thames," one critic has complained, noting that Asian and American buyers are a lot more comfortable with high-rise living than Brits. And no one has been more anti-tower than the Prince of Wales, who in 2011 declared of high-rise buildings: "They cast long shadows, they darken streets and suck life from them." On the other hand, City of London planning officer Peter Rees has a different view. "High-rises are a great billboard for the city," he says. The current number of schemes more than 30, 40 or even 50 storeys high seems to indicate that this is the prevailing view. Supporters of high-rise living also point to the payments that are levied on developers, under the agreement known as Section 106. These are handouts designed to compensate the local community. It's thought that the Section 106 payment for The Shard came to £37 million. At the same time, of course, this pushes up the prices of the new apartments. "The cost of building a typical plc house is around £100 per square foot," says Adam Challis, head of residential research at Jones Lang Lasalle. However, the cost of building the upper floor of a tower block is around £350 per square foot. Not that the price tag seems to be putting off buyers. The cost of one-bedroom flats in many new towers starts at £750,000. Already 90 per cent of the 355 apartments at One Tower Bridge (Berkeley Homes) have been sold, even though the prices begin at £1.35 million and go up to £15 million. Thankfully, too, lessons have been learnt from previous tower-block schemes which have turned the pavements below into wind-tunnels. Many of the new projects come complete with shops, restaurants, gyms and hotels on the lower floors. The Lexington, in Islington, for example, even has a spa. Some schemes even offer apartment owners the chance to use the same room service and cleaning staff as the hotel guests. As for those people who worry that it's all foreigners who are coming over here and taking our high-rises, they shouldn't get upset, says Challis. That battle is already lost. "The fact is, one-third of the population of London was not born here," he says. Take me - I'm Canadian. When it comes to internationalisation, I have to say that this is not a new phenomenon. This city is founded on its contribution to the globe. It's time everyone woke up and realised what has happened. There's no doubt in my mind that London is now the de facto capital of the world. Hoola London E16, is the new HUB development in London's Royal Docks. For sale: Manhattan Loft Gardens: An astonishingly striking 42 storey cantilevered tower in the centre of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. On completion in 2018 it will house 248 lofts and apartments, a seven storey hotel, 2 restaurants, 3 sky gardens and a public piazza. Available through Savills: 020 7531 2512; savills.co.uk. Prices start at £425,000 for studio apartments Hoola, London, Royal Victoria Docks, London E16 These landmark 23-and 24-storey towers offer studios, one, two and three bedroom apartments featuring open plan living and kitchen spaces and rippling glass balconies. Facilities include a gym and business lounge, as well as the comfort and security of concierge services Available through Savills: 020 7531 2516 Prices start at £399,000. Canaletto, City Road. Beside the canal on the northern fringes of the City, the one-two-bedroom apartments in the 31-storey Canaletto will cost between £850,000 and £1.4m. There's a pool, spa and 24-hour concierge service (Kinght Frank 020 7718 5225; knightfrank.co.uk)