Paris’ skyscraper limit scrapped

Paris City Council has scrapped its 30-year-old limit on skyscrapers, paving the way for more high-rise buildings in the capital’s centre.

Socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoë has championed the change, despite polls showing that two-thirds of Parisians are opposed to taller buildings.

"Parisians are uncomfortable with the very idea of high-rise buildings: polls say so quite clearly. But the duty of public officials is to be guided by the general interest, rather than polls," he said.

The 37m ceiling was adopted in 1977 in response to unpopular buildings such as the Tour Montparnasse.

Residents say the top of the tower, completed in 1975, has the best view of the city as it is the only place where you cannot see it.

Public consultations on the new buildings, to be situated in Batignolles, Porte de la Chapelle, Porte de Montreuil, Bercy-Chanteron, Masséna-Brunseau and Porte de Versailles, will begin in January, according to city councillor for town planning Anne Hidalgo.

They are part of a wide-ranging regeneration effort to improve the outskirts of the city, which has little middle-ground between its historic centre and run-down estates.

Delanoë also supports the construction of new 50m apartment blocks to counter a shortage of affordable housing in the capital.

Delanoë has long campaigned to end the high-rise ban, but was blocked during his first term as mayor by his Green party allies on the city council. Following his re-election he has been able to carry through the measure.

Green politicians say such towers are ‘energy guzzlers’. The council has said that its environmental plan, passed unanimously last autumn, was a ‘guide’ rather than legal limit for energy consumption in buildings.

French architect Jean Nouvel, who last month won a contract to build a new skyscraper in the La Defense business district west of Paris, has criticised the taboo on high-rises, saying they should be allowed even in the city centre.

"This is not about undermining our heritage. But we have to stop thinking that Paris is a museum-city," Nouvel told Le Parisian newspaper. "Paris is not finished - If vertical buildings can enrich the heart of the capital, why deprive ourselves?"

Photo:The Tour Montparnasse leftled to the introduction of the skyscraper limit.
Credit Thbz