A quarter of London?s skyscrapers are designed by architects who have already won a lifetime achievement award and whose work thus has the imprimatur of `iconic design?; this compares with just 3% in Chicago. According to research by Paul Cheshire and Gerard Dericks, employing such `trophy architects? can get a London developer a valuable extra 19 floors on a representative site. Their study shows how in the highly uncertain world created by the UK planning system?s decision-making method, it is worth spending a fortune to `game? the system and get more space when you are successful. They explain the costs to society of these incentives to `game? the system.

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3 October 2014     Paper Number CEPCP432

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This CentrePiece article is published under the centre's Urban programme.