Paris has reimposed a height limit for new buildings in the city, following the controversial construction of Tour Triangle tower designed by Swiss studio Herzog & de Meuron.
The height limit, announced yesterday, will limit new buildings in the French capital to a height of 37 metres or 12 storeys.
It reinstates the same Parisian planning law that was introduced in 1977 following the construction of Tour Montparnasse, a 210-metre-tall office tower by architects Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan and Louis Hoym de Marien that was also highly contested.
The 1977 height limit was in place until 2010. It was overturned by former mayor Bertrand Delanoë for a limit of 180 metres for office towers and 50 metres for housing blocks.
The ban has been reintroduced as part of mayor Anne Hidalgo's Local Bioclimatic Urban Plan, which is aimed at reducing Paris' carbon emissions.
....
According to an article on Sortir Paris, the Bioclamatic Urban Plan has three primary focuses, including development limitations that install an urban growth boundary and ambitious goals for social housing:
- “Limiting new construction: No new building may exceed 37 meters in height. The area around the ring road will be protected, with no construction allowed within a 25-metre zone around it, barring specific exceptions.
- “More green space: The plan calls for the development of 300 hectares of additional green space by 2040. At the same time, the city is committed to planting 170,000 trees by 2026.”
- “Increase in social housing: The aim is to achieve 30% social housing by 2035. In certain zones, new projects over 500m2 will have to include at least 50% social housing.”