Almost 77 percent of tall buildings in India – those higher than 150 metres – are located in Mumbai. Considering the limited land available in the city, Mumbai will likely continue leading the construction of tall buildings in the country.
India has about 250 tall buildings that are completed or under construction. Mumbai is followed by Hyderabad, where planners are keen to grow vertically, according to a report by real estate consultancy CBRE India. Kolkata ranks third, Noida fourth, followed by Gurugram, Bengaluru and Chennai, with a 1 percent share each.
India’s urban population is expected to cross 600 million by 2030. New growth avenues will have to be unlocked in the cities and tall buildings could become one way to fulfil the demand for urban space. However, the path to building tall is not easy and may pose many challenges, CBRE India said.
Mumbai also commands premium prices compared to most other cities, which makes the construction of tall buildings economically viable, according to the report. Other cities will have to work towards going vertical rather than going horizontal.
Height premium
According to the report, as homebuyers live on higher floors, they might end up paying a premium.
“Height premiums are an important factor in pricing high-rise residential towers; broadly speaking, the higher the apartment, the higher the price. Height brings additional views, more privacy and added exclusivity," CBRE India said.
CBRE examined the unit pricing of 15 prominent residential projects in Mumbai across a range of price points and specifications, varying from 25 storeys to 50+ storeys. They indicated an average price premium of 10-15 percent above the 20th floor and over 25 percent in some cases after the 40th and 60th floors, according to the report.
At almost 80 metres, Usha Kiran, a residential building in Mumbai completed in 1961, was the first tall building in India. After 1970, a few more tall buildings were built such as the Subhash Chandra Bose Tower in Kolkata, and the Oberoi Trident and Air India buildings in Mumbai. The construction of tall buildings accelerated in India only after 2000, CBRE said.
One of the prime reasons that spurred the development of tall buildings in Mumbai was the exponential increase in the urban population along with wealth accumulation among its population. The city is waterlocked on three sides, which further strengthens the need to build vertically.
The city’s population grew by 22.4 percent from 1991 to 2001, while local train ridership increased by 42.37 percent from 4.95 million to 6.4 million.
Also read: Wind tests now mandatory for construction of high-rise buildings above 45 floors in Mumbai
What is a tall building?
According to the CBRE India report, there is no standard benchmark worldwide that is used to classify tall buildings.
For this report, CBRE adopted the definition of tall buildings issued by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, one of the key authorities on the subject. Any building with a height of more than 150 metres meets the tall building classification. Within tall buildings, there are two sub-types: supertall buildings and mega-tall buildings, defined as those that exceed a height of 300 metres and 600 metres, respectively.
The report revealed that Mumbai ranked 17th in the list of global cities with tall buildings and placed 14th in Asia.
Also read: Will setting up a high-rise committee help Delhi-NCR tackle structural safety issues?
Hong Kong has one of the highest numbers of tall buildings in the world. Shenzhen, New York City, Dubai, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Tokyo rank high on the Global Financial Centres Index, according to CBRE India.
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