Places · London
Façade & building consultants in London.
From Roman walls and Wren's Portland stone to Victorian terraces, Brutalist estates and glass towers, London's buildings span almost 2,000 years. McKay Turner Consulting provides façade condition surveys, defect investigations, FRAEW (PAS 9980) and EWS1 assessments across central and inner London.
LONDON 51.5072° N, 0.1275° W
A short history
A city rebuilt again and again
London began as a Roman settlement by the Thames. It has been rebuilt after fire, war and changing fortunes, and each rebuild added new layers of stone, brick, concrete and glass.
- c. AD 50
Londinium
The Romans establish a settlement by the Thames. Between 190 and 225 they enclose it with the London Wall.
- 1666
The Great Fire
The fire destroys around 13,200 houses and over 80 parish churches. A new law bans wooden exteriors, so London rebuilds in brick and stone.
- 1710
St Paul's Cathedral
Wren's Portland stone cathedral becomes the tallest building in London, a title it holds until 1963.
- 1851
The Crystal Palace
Joseph Paxton's cast-iron hall for the Great Exhibition uses around 293,000 panes of glass and goes up in under a year.
- 1940
The Blitz
Bombing destroys or damages more than a million London houses. A raid on 29 December starts a firestorm across the City.
- 1991
Canary Wharf
One Canada Square, clad in stainless steel, opens on the Isle of Dogs. At 235m it is the UK's tallest building until the Shard.
- 2017
Grenfell Tower
A fire in North Kensington kills 72 people and spreads through combustible cladding. It leads to a national building safety programme and a ban on combustible materials in the walls of new residential buildings over 18m.
- 2026
Battersea's next phase
Work starts on Prospect Place South at Battersea Power Station, which reopened in 2022 after an eight-year restoration.
Architecture
What makes London's buildings distinctive
London has no single style. Georgian squares, Victorian Gothic, Brutalist concrete and glass towers sit side by side, often within a short walk of each other.
Key styles
Georgian
Brick terraces and garden squares, often rendered in stucco, such as John Nash's Park Crescent (1806–21).
Victorian & Gothic Revival
Barry and Pugin's Palace of Westminster, rebuilt from 1840, yellow stock brick terraces and terracotta landmarks such as the Natural History Museum (1881).
Edwardian & Art Deco
Portland stone offices, red brick mansion blocks and Battersea Power Station, one of the world's largest brick buildings.
Modernism & Brutalism
Concrete estates and arts buildings, led by the Barbican (1965–76), one of London's principal examples of Brutalism.
High-tech
Structure and services on show, from Richard Rogers' Lloyd's building (1986) to Foster's glass-clad 30 St Mary Axe (2004).
Contemporary
Glass towers in the City, Canary Wharf and Nine Elms, led by the 310m Shard and its 11,000 panes of glass.
The city's material palette
Did you know?
The Lloyd's building was listed Grade I in 2011, 25 years after completion. At the time it was the youngest building ever given that status.
The Palace of Westminster's limestone was decaying by 1849 because of pollution and poor stone. From 1928 it was replaced with Clipsham stone from Rutland.
Wren used nearly one million cubic feet of Portland stone to rebuild St Paul's, all shipped by sailing barge from Portland to London.
Typical building types
What London is built of today
London's building stock is vast and mixed. Office towers, high-rise homes and student blocks sit beside listed terraces, mansion blocks and post-war estates.
Commercial offices
Historic stone offices beside curtain-walled towers, with many older buildings being refurbished.
Where: City of London, Canary Wharf, King's Cross
High-rise apartments
Residential towers from the 2000s onwards, many with rainscreen cladding and balconies.
Where: Isle of Dogs, Nine Elms, Greenwich Peninsula
Mansion blocks & period homes
Victorian and Edwardian mansion blocks and terraces, many converted to flats.
Where: Marylebone, Kensington, Maida Vale
Post-war estates
Council and private estates of concrete and brick, from slab blocks to towers.
Where: Barbican, Elephant and Castle, Poplar
Purpose-built student
Large, often high-rise blocks close to the city's universities.
Where: Bloomsbury, Southwark, Whitechapel
Build to rent
Professionally managed rental blocks, often within large regeneration schemes.
Where: Wood Wharf, Elephant Park, Stratford
Retail, hotels & mixed use
Shops and hotels at street level with offices or homes above.
Where: Oxford Street, Covent Garden, Battersea Power Station
Heritage & civic
Listed palaces, churches, museums and markets that need specialist care.
Where: Westminster, South Kensington, Smithfield
Current construction trends
Where London is building now
New towers are still coming, but much of London's activity is now about reusing, upgrading and making safe the buildings it already has.
Prospect Place South, Battersea
Ground broke in September 2026 on two Gehry Partners buildings with around 300 homes, completing Electric Boulevard. They are due to finish in 2030.
London Museum, Smithfield
Horace Jones's 1883 General Market is being restored as the new home of the London Museum, due to open on 28 November 2026.
One London, City of London
The 74-storey tower at 1 Undershaft was approved in December 2024 and would match the Shard's height. Demolition is under way, with construction planned for 2028 to 2033.
Office refurbishment
Two thirds of the central London office space started in 2025 was refurbishment, about 3.1m sq ft, as owners upgrade older buildings.
Tall buildings
There are 87 schemes of 20 storeys or more moving through London's pipeline. In 2025, 91% of tall building projects were residential or mixed use.
Building safety remediation
Tower Hamlets has more than 400 buildings in government cladding remediation programmes, more than any other council area. Across England, 39% of the 4,724 buildings identified had finished works by August 2026.
How we help in London
Every era of building has its own risks
We match our inspections and advice to the age and construction of your building.
Georgian, Victorian & Edwardian stone, brick and terracottac.1750–1930
Weathered stone, failed pointing and mortar, corroding iron fixings and water ingress through older details.
Post-war concrete and system buildsc.1950–1990
Spalling concrete, corroded reinforcement, ageing windows and poor thermal performance.
Curtain walls, rainscreen and high-rise residentialc.1990–2018
Leaking seals and gaskets, combustible cladding and insulation, and missing cavity barriers.
New build and conversionstoday
Design and specification gaps, workmanship defects and Building Safety Act requirements.
One Crown Place: a peer-reviewed PAS 9980 FRAEW and EWS1 A1 for a 100m+ City of London tower, delivered in five working days.
Read the case study →FAQs
Façade services in London
Do you carry out FRAEWs and EWS1 forms in London?
Yes. We carry out Fire Risk Appraisals of External Walls to PAS 9980 and EWS1 assessments on residential and student buildings across London. We are Homes England approved Cladding Safety Scheme assessors.
How quickly can you respond to an enquiry in London?
We work across central, inner and outer London. We aim to respond to new enquiries within one working day, and we arrange site visits and access to suit your programme.
Can you survey listed buildings and mansion blocks?
Yes. We inspect Portland stone, stucco, stock brick and terracotta façades on listed buildings, mansion blocks and period terraces, and recommend repairs that suit the building's age and construction.
Which other services do you offer in London?
Technical due diligence, defect and water ingress investigations, façade condition surveys, specification and tender, development monitoring, remediation project management and expert witness services.
Work with us
Own or manage a building in London?
We provide façade condition surveys, defect investigations, PAS 9980 appraisals and EWS1 assessments, and manage remediation across London.
Photographs: Thomas Konings and Ed Robertson on Unsplash.