Places to go 3 London Viewing Platforms of the Future.

Viewing platforms are the latest hot trend in London travel. The opening of the Shard in 2013 provided Londoners with the highest viewing point in all of Western Europe on their door step and recently the opening of the Olympic Parks Orbit is providing dramatic views of the skyscraper dominated east London skyline

London from above

With access to the highest points in London now only requiring a ticket (views from the previous tallest tower in London, One Canada Square, were restricted to the officer workers employed there), the opportunity for people to see London from above is proving very popular.

They Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced several years ago that any company wishing to build a tall structure in London should provide access to that structure to the public.

Developers seem to be listening to the Mayors demands; with a flurry of new tall buildings on the way, let’s have a look at some of the viewing platforms coming to London in the future and the kind of views we can expect to see from them.

1. Battersea Power Station: View from the Chimney.

As part of the Battersea Power Station redevelopment, the developers have submitted plans to include a viewing platform on top of the North West chimney. The original chimney stacks are currently being removed and will be replaced with exact replicas.

As the image suggests, the viewing platform will not be particularly large due to the constraints of the chimney, however this is a innovative and exciting plan that will allow people to get up close with a historic London landmark.

What will the view be like from up there? Well something like this:

This photo, taken by urban explorers at http://ejectable.net/, indicates what a view from close to the top of one the chimneys could be like. Being quite far from central London, the view from Battersea Power Station would provide a stunning overall view of the city skyline, although you may have to strain your eyes to see any individual landmarks up close.

The Battersea redevelopment won’t be completed for a number of years yet and there is no opening date set for the viewing platform.

2. Walkie Talkie Sky Garden.

Perhaps the most ambitious viewing platform of the near future, the Walkie Talkie sky garden is set to dazzle visitors with a massive garden, indoor viewing area and outdoor balcony.

Located on the top floor of the nearly completed Walkie Talkie skyscraper, the sky garden will offer views 160 metres above the ground, is set to include over 2000 plants, flowers and trees, will be designed by the landscapers of the Olympic park and best of all, will be absolutely free to access!

Access will be limited to 400 people a time, but this is still an excellent and much needed addition of public space in the cramped square mile. Being able to walk around in a garden in sky and pop outside to admire the sky-high view free of charge will be quite an experience, but what kind of view can we expect?

The sky garden will be located on the south facing side of the building and will therefore only face south. This is in contrast to nearly all other viewing platforms in London which offer a 360 degree view.

That’s not to say that the view won’t be worth seeing, you will get a unique, close up view of the Shard and other south London skyscrapers that are currently being built, as well as the London eye and Westminster which will be visible from a distance.

The walkie talkie sky garden is set to open at the end of this year when the building is complete.

3. The Pinnacle viewing platform.

The troubled Pinnacle tower, set to be completed in 2013 but with construction halted just a few months after it began, currently remains a small tower of concrete in the centre of the square mile

Never the less, when (or if) the building is built it will become the second tallest building in the UK and plans include a viewing platform at the top of the tower. This would become the second highest viewing platform in London and the UK, after the Shard.

So what would be the point of another viewing platform so close to an even higher one? Well, this could start a price war, bringing down the price of both viewing platforms and making the views more accessible to those not able to afford the current prices. Secondly, being located in the centre of The City, visitors to the Pinnacle’s viewing platform would get a very close up look of the well-known skyscrapers that surround it, including the Gherkin and Cheesegrater as well as a closer view of St Paul’s cathedral

These are the most exciting and prominent viewing platforms that have been planned and are likely to be built, but with the skyscraper boom in London set to continue, expect many more publicly accessible viewing platforms to be added to this list soon.

Useful links

The View from The Shard Review

Pinnacle

Walkie Talkie Sky Garden