![\"Paris-like](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0-3-12-scaled.jpg\" "\\"Paris-like")
The Wellesley Road thoroughfare splits East and West Croydon Credit: Doyle Of London<\/p>\nLondon must look to Paris and Auckland as examples of swapping tower blocks for mid-rise buildings in order to solve the capital\u2019s housing crisis, the Mayor has been told.<\/p>\n
The capital cities of France and New Zealand make use of mid-rise developments \u2013 buildings between five and nine storeys \u2013 to maximise density, as opposed to a mix of single-storey houses and high-rise tower blocks.<\/p>\n
In 2021, 88.3 per cent of London\u2019s homes were in low-rise buildings \u2013 houses, bungalows, or flats in two to five-storey buildings \u2013 compared to 41 per cent in Paris, 48 per cent in New York and 62 per cent in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
With ministers demanding London build 88,000 homes a year as part of a wider aim of building 1.5million new dwellings by 2029, the London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee explored whether London should target mid-rise developments to meet the target.<\/p>\n
Nicholas Boys Smith MBE, Founder and Director of the Create Streets think tank, held up Paris as a prime example of the benefits of prioritising mid-rise building.<\/p>\n
Their local strategy, called Le Plan local d\u2019urbanisme (PLU), limits new building heights to 37 metres and restricts where high-rises can be built. This has led to a unique layout of tightly packed, mid-rise blocks across the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cParis is building mid-rise housing of quite astonishing quality,\u201d he told the London Assembly. \u201cPart of this is about transport \u2013 it is easier and cheaper to build trams. These trams lead to new suburbs and neighbourhoods being created and justifies a greater density of building.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell Curtis, who chairs the Barnet Quality Review Panel, said Auckland Council\u2019s recent move to \u201ccompel densification\u201d around train stations has had a \u201cprofound effect on rents and house prices\u201d in the city.<\/p>\n
Auckland Council recently voted in favour of a housing intensification replacement plan that will see 10-15 storey buildings constructed around public transport hubs. While higher than a typical mid-rise, Mr Curtis said the principle was encouraging.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn London, if you increased housing density by 25 per cent in areas within 800 metres from a station, you would deliver 850,000 homes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven a modest increase in density in these areas would yield a significant numbers of homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wellesley Road thoroughfare splits East and West Croydon Credit: Doyle Of London<\/p>\n
Closer to home, Croydon was held up as a microcosmic example of what can be achieved. A densification programme of 2,000 homes delivered within developments of fewer than 10 homes, with house prices and rents levelling off as a result.<\/p>\n
Mr Curtis added: \u201cDevelopers were given absolute certainty and they build out as a result. If you allowed this sort of principle \u2013 for example, automatic replacement of corner plots \u2013 across London, you would get to a good level of densification.<\/p>\n
Maurice Lange, an analyst at the Centre for Cities, said the need to prioritise mid-rises over low density buildings was becoming more urgent, especially around transport hubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cLondon is less dense than its equivalent megacity peers across the world. Its core is half as dense as the core in Paris, its suburbs are less dense than in Japan,\u201d he told the committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are definitely some places you want more mid-rises to be happening \u2013 around train stations, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n
The capital has seen a number of increasingly tall tower blocks built as local officials scramble to meet housing targets.<\/p>\n
However, the desperation to build is taking away from London\u2019s architectural beauty and community building, according to the panellists.<\/p>\n
Mr Boys Smith said: \u201cThere are advantages to both low and high density \u2013 mid-rises is a good way to allow people to live in households where they have control over their immediate environment but live in a neighbourhood which is dense enough to have a shop down the road, pub round the corner, walkable to the nearest bus or metro station.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe concept of mid-rise, while not right for everyone all the time, is a very good way of meeting the different tensions of how we want to live and how we build sustainably and get the conglomeration effects of towns and cities. As a way to growing sustainably and beautifully, it is a key part of the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shreya Nanda, an advisor to London YIMBY, which campaigns for more housebuilding in the capital, said planning officials must look to building mid-rise blocks as a \u201cbase expectation\u201d.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cAdding more homes is good for affordability. We need to make it affordable for young people and families to stay in London. Mid-rise housing and densifying low-rise housing is what we should be aiming for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The current London Plan, drawn up in 2017, does not include a specific policy on mid-rise blocks.<\/p>\n
Committee Chair James Small-Edwards asked the Mayor earlier this month whether the new one, due in 2027, will change that.<\/p>\n
In a written answer to the London Assembly, Sir Sadiq said: \u201cMy Towards a New London Plan consultation document recognises that much of London is fairly low-rise when compared to many other world cities where mid-rise development of five to nine storeys is more common.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs part of developing my next London Plan, my officers are exploring how mid-rise development can be encouraged across London. This will be a key part to my ambition to optimise the use of land and deliver the housing London needs in a sustainable way.\u201d<\/p>\n
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