What Happened to London's 'Iceberg' Basements?

"They were the talk of the town for years - those massive, often multi-level, underground extensions dug deep beneath London's most exclusive postcodes, hence the nickname "iceberg" basements. But then the horror stories began, with tales of neighbouring houses collapsing and outrage over the disruption caused by the creation of subterranean swimming pools and cinemas. So, have these mega-basements now fallen out of fashion, or is there still a whir of construction happening beneath our feet?"

"The mid-2010s were certainly the heyday of the mega-basement. In 2014 alone, a staggering 842 basement projects were given the green light across London. But by 2020, the landscape had changed dramatically. In Kensington and Chelsea, a borough synonymous with lavish subterranean lairs, planning applications plummeted from 869 in 2014 to just 54 in 2020 - a staggering 93.8% drop. It's a similar story in Westminster, where applications fell by 92.1% over the same period."

"So what put the brakes on the basement boom? To put it simply, a perfect storm of stricter planning regulations, economic uncertainty, and a global pandemic. Many London boroughs, responding to residents' fury, brought in tougher rules to limit the size and scale of basement developments. By 2015, most had effectively banned multi-storey basements, making the most extravagant 'iceberg' homes a thing of the past."

Massive multi-storey 'iceberg' basements beneath London's wealthiest postcodes were once widespread, featuring subterranean swimming pools and cinemas. By the mid-2010s the trend peaked, with 842 basement projects approved in London in 2014. Planning applications then fell sharply; Kensington and Chelsea dropped from 869 approvals in 2014 to 54 in 2020 (a 93.8% decline), and Westminster saw a 92.1% fall. The decline followed stricter local planning rules, effective bans on multi-storey basements around 2015, economic uncertainty from Brexit, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Some basement work persists in areas constrained by surface space.

Read at London On The Inside