Do you think Milton Keynes should have more tall buildings?

Posted by raw_onions_are_good@reddit | miltonkeynes | View on Reddit | 26 comments

Personally I do, as it would make the city centre feel more cozy and lively due to the increased population. It could also allow more offices in MK if that’s needed; however this could make MK look a lot like an American/Canadian city, as the rest of the UK’s cities tend not to have many tall buildings.

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AdministrativePin117@reddit

Thing is mk has a lot of opportunities but no ones ready to take that on yet. Skyscrapers here would make the city thrive in many ways and make it evolve quicker then ever summed up. But what these skyscrapers haters don’t realize is that this no taller then the tallest tree rule is what limits a town from becoming a thriving city. there’s nothing going on in Milton Keynes right now and we need that push of approval to spark everything. Plus we got universal entering Bedford soon so Milton Keynes really needs to develop fast before it becomes an old dump with a bunch of concrete cows and trees like everyother 3rd world town in the uk

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0f311@reddit

Personally I think they should, but only in the city center, and I want them to make the new buildings unique and aesthetically pleasing, like MK Gateway

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Ornery_Negotiation52@reddit

Yes 100% they do. No city looks affluent without beautiful gleaming sky scrapers...MK needs a central tall tower like NY tower than replaced World Trade Centre. Magnificent to look at and gives a real statement of city status.

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RealisticAd3095@reddit

Yes!

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North_Tip3952@reddit

Yes, they should have tall buildings in mk central imo.

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timelessagnostic@reddit

Absolutely not. I do not understand the phrases people fall for like NewYork skyline, London skyline etc. These are absolutely horrible looking. High rise commercial and residential buildings, blocks natural light and potentially air flow too. I like to see more green and vast green spaces around. I really liked the initial concept of Milton Keynes planning that no building will be taller than the highest tree in the vicinity. What happened to that ? Property developers make huge money and profit when they build tall building that's why they prefer taller buildings. They have their own multiple houses in various locations which they can switch to easily, but most people have just one house and one would like to live in cleaner and greener place. Personally I like to see more natural green around me than the concrete and bricks. At the moment when you move around Milton Keynes traffic roads, all you see is just tall trees on both sides of the roads and the house dwellings behind those trees that you can't see which is excellent. But in CMK, all the tall buildings have come up now and it is not a good sight.

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timelessagnostic@reddit

There is a new development in planning phase on the north side of Campbell park. Plans are to build tall residential buildings. On the opposite side of the park, there are flats and I think, new flats must not be taller than these flats. But plans tell something else.

you can comment here if you like : https://campbellparknorth.com/have-your-say

Or may be write to councillors/planners or even newly elected MPs from MK to stop this madness of creating taller buildings. Milton Keynes should be Milton Keynes only, it should do things in its own style by keeping openness and greenness as priority and must not follow traditional cities like London.

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Designer_Writing4086@reddit

Who got the backhander at the council to scrap the old nothing higher than 4 storeys is what I now want to know. I'm furious at the new ones going up. 27 storeys, 25 storeys and 18 stories. Ridiculous. I emailed the MP last week about them and the. Today I see they have been granted. Place turning into a shit hole. They tore down the gables and hellish court. Doesn't that say it all?

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tinyjacky@reddit

Depends on how you define "tall buildings".

Haussmann buildings of 6 to 9 stories high along the tree-lined boulevards would fit the road proportions really well and give that sense of enclosure without being oppressive.

It would densify CMK to a point where it would have enough footfall to support more independent shops and restaurants.

It also would not add a lot of car traffic if you restrict the number of allocated parking spaces, which would be fine since it's centrally located and bikes should be a good enough alternative given the redways.

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bennymk@reddit

I think in the centre it's fine but not around the estates. Every city centre needs people to live there and limited space means you have to build high.

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timelessagnostic@reddit

Limited space is a myth carefully crafted by these rich property developers. Their own houses consist of acres of land. High rise buildings are built just to maximise the profit, nothing else.

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bennymk@reddit

But a city centre does have limited space. You can't build a low rise estate there.

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timelessagnostic@reddit

Why there should be residential complex in the city centre in the first place. It just add to traffic congestions. City centre should be commercial space only, where people go work and shop and come back to their houses. In MK every place is reachable within 12 mins from any other place. Building densely populated buildings will just add to that congestion just like every other city. That defeats the whole idea of MK.

A city centre having residential complex is nothing but making profit by property developer. It has nothing to do with solving the housing shortage. It just adds chaos.

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bennymk@reddit

In order for a city centre to thrive it needs people living there. That's basic City planning. Mk is expanding hugely on the outskirts with new developments, but it needs a thriving centre.

The whole tallest tree thing is old fashioned and stunts development.

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timelessagnostic@reddit

MK was built in 1970s, and taller building existed before 1970's everywhere in the world. So I think having taller building is old fashioned. Having green all around and taller tree is the way forward.

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fuzzbook@reddit

In the centre I think is fine, but not outside

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Dast_@reddit

Tall buildings will spoil the aesthetic, I hope they stop with the ugly new hotel...

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timelessagnostic@reddit

That's how city planners should be. Saying blunt NO to even biggest corporations in the world when it comes to the quality of life for people. They said no to EDS (A very large US IT corporation of its time) because EDS wanted to build office in Campbell Park.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKgi6V-oe4E&t=3515s

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FinchMandala@reddit

If you want more taller buildings move to Slough.

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Rectal_Scattergun@reddit

I don't think a lot of tall buildings gives the feeling of 'cosy'. It'd give the feeling of crowded.
Plus we don't need any more offices as there's plenty of empty offices in the city and the increase of wfh has most likely lead to a drop in demand for office spaces.

We do need more housing (and services to cater for them), that's undeniable, and perhaps a few blocks of flats could assist with that if they're put in the right place and the NIMBY's don't get in the way, but we could also just continue with the estate building that's ongoing.

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CodeDominator@reddit

Yeah I do. Not crazy tall, but up to 20 stories would pack a lot more density and leave more space for the green.

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nasted@reddit

Tall buildings aren’t cosy: they’re imposing but cold and impersonal. Cosy comes from community and open spaces, places where people can gather and get to know each other. A block of flats does not achieve this.

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Joseph_HTMP@reddit

If you’re having real buildings purely for the effect of “feeling cosy” then, no. If they’re well built, affordable homes and social rental properties then fine. MK was always supposed to be a low rise city, no building taller than the tallest tree, as they used to say.

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