The Panorama of the Thames conservation project began in 1999, in response to public concern that familiar river views were rapidly changing as a result of new building developments - changes which have increased significantly since then, and continue as the banks of the Thames through London become even more desirable for luxury housing.

 

This record takes the form of panoramic images which show riverside architecture in the context of the waterway, and includes integrated data on every building.

 

It is a not-for-profit community project funded by local organisations and individuals, independent of commercial influences.

 

The project has also restored a remarkable rare panorama dating from 1829, which allows comparisons to be made of the same riverside then and now. The restoration is available on this website, and in the first published book from the project "A Riverside View of Georgian London".

 

Much of our panoramic photography was carried out in 2014, benchmarking this period now and for the future with a seamless photographic survey of the river landscape - just as the 1829 Panorama of the Thames is the record for its time.

 

The project brings these eras - the Georgian and the second Elizabethan - together to contrast and compare. Enormous changes are currently taking place along London's Thames as record-breaking tall towers replace low-rise working and industrial features with new commercial and residential developments.

 

This riverside development is accelerating and our modern panoramas are already a valuable record of buildings that have been demolished and replaced. So perhaps the same exercise should be repeated more frequently than every couple of centuries.