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Architects and developers have been warned they risk threatening London鈥檚 position as a place to visit if a host of towers planned for the capital get out of the ground.

English Heritage鈥檚 planning and conservation director Nigel Barker said the people responsible for giving tall buildings the green light were in danger of destroying one of the reasons people come to see it.

鈥淭here is a complacency that says the historic environment will be there,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople will always come and see it. They will always draw on it. We do not need to worry too much about it. Let us concentrate on the new stuff.鈥�

More than 230 towers of over 20 storeys are planned for the capital in the coming years and Barker warned: 鈥淭he scale of transformation that is going on in London at the moment, I think could threaten the value of London as a place to come and visit, as a place to come and live鈥� because we are creating different sorts of areas which do not actually say 鈥榯his is London鈥�.鈥�

Barker said London鈥檚 popularity as a tourist destination had accelerated since the Olympics in 2012. 鈥淲e delivered an amazing Olympics. We are seeing the benefits of visitors coming to London [and] one of the attractions for the Olympics was the quality of the historic environment.鈥�

He admitted tall buildings such as Renzo Piano鈥檚 Shard and Rafael Vinoly鈥檚 Walkie Talkie were now part of the capital鈥檚 heritage. 鈥淭he minute they go up they have a value. Those values will be different for people from their different perspectives. Will the Walkie Talkie become a listed building? I would not bet on it.鈥�

In comments made to the GLA鈥檚 planning committee earlier this month, he also singled out the recent decision to give the Shell Centre scheme the go-ahead.

鈥淲e should not be using, as we currently do and the Shell Centre decision is a classic case in point, claimed architectural quality as a justification for harm to existing character and value.鈥�

Barker鈥檚 comments received some unlikely support from the City鈥檚 former chief planning officer Peter Rees who said one of the reasons why tall buildings were being built in London was to attract overseas money 鈥� rather than meeting the housing needs of the capital.

鈥淚n most cases we are not building homes at all,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e are trying to appeal to that [overseas] market because the one thing that does appeal in this international market is glitzy high-rise buildings.鈥�

Rees, who left his position at the City of London in April after 29 years, also questioned whether super-high towers made good residential blocks.

鈥淚t is fine for people who are rich enough to get out and escape. It is not so good for people who are on low incomes, stuck in a high building, feeling isolated.

鈥淚f you build developments of up to 10 storeys, people meet each other a lot more. They are in contact with the ground a lot more. They create community a lot more.鈥�