London blew up on Monday 27 October 1986. For centuries the city’s skyline, along with its iconic profiles of St Pauls and Tower Bridge, was so institutional that it had court protection. But Margaret Thatcher changed all that. By deregulating the financial markets, the way was cleared for explosive growth of London’s economy—and the equally explosive growth of its skyline.

What had long been derelict docklands became overnight a gleaming new city of glass and steel, its skyscrapers scintillating in the rippling blue waters of the River Thames. Tens of millions of square metres of homes and offices, including Europe’s tallest building, have since sprung forth, peopled by citizens who pour in from not one but three equally shiny new railways. Witness the newest atrium of London’s beating heart.