ABSTRACT

Practical pressures have of course included weathering each and every economic crisis which has affected the country over the years. There have been other problems as well. An example of a local threat which may yet remove significant business from within the Square Mile is the challenge of the ‘Docklands’ development to the pre-eminent position of the City. In the early 1980s, attempts were made to build what amounted to a second ‘City’ on reclaimed land a few miles to the east. Although that plan did not meet with the immediate success that was hoped,64 it did have the effect of encouraging the City to relax its planning restrictions with the result that the late 1980s saw a considerable amount of redevelopment throughout the City and other sites close by.65 Unfortunately, at least some of this redeveloped property became ready for occupation when the recession of the late 1980s was at its worst and lay unoccupied despite the best efforts of landlords, which have included premium and rent reductions to encourage the occupancy of both new and existing tenants.