It was the year of the tall building down in Cannes, with Eric Kuhne’s V building in the vanguard

Exhibitors at Mipim were not put off by the row brewing in this country over the government’s plans to restrict the building of skyscrapers near heritage sites.

Instead it was the year of the tower, as several developers and architects chose the exhibition to launch high-rise schemes.

Architect Eric Kuhne said he hoped his 150m V building would give Birmingham “the recognition that the Sears Building gave Chicago”. The £150m scheme will include 600 apartments as well as a “sky bar” and observatory.

One of the wackiest schemes on show was The Lagoons, unsurprisingly planned for Dubai. The centrepiece of the $18bn (£9bn) mixed-use scheme by developer Sama Dubai is a set of four flame-shaped towers.

Another talking point was architect Valode & Pistre’s Generali Tower in Paris, which at 300m tall and is one of a cluster of green towers planned for La Défense.

Also launched at Mipim

  • Foster + Partners’ mixed-use Zaryadye scheme next to the Red Square in Moscow
  • HOK’s masterplan for an urban community for 115,000 people in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi
  • Plans for the world’s largest residential tower, at 516m, in Dubai by Trident International Holdings
  • URS’ masterplan for a new city outside Moscow
  • A vision for a “city within a city” in Verona, Italy, by Mario Bellini and Richard Rogers
  • Hive, an office in Manchester by Argent, designed by HKR Architects and Piercey Connor Architects

    More images from the exhibition at www.building.co.uk/mipim2007

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