Height restriction laws are laws that restrict the maximum height of structures. Height restriction laws are always applied for the surroundings of airports, because too tall structures of any kind are always a danger for flight safety. Height restriction laws are not always kept strictly. Sometimes there are exceptions made for important infrastructure equipment, as radio towers or for structures older than the airport. These structures have to be marked with red and white paint, have flight safety lamps on top, or both. Often red and white paint and flight safety lamps have to be installed on high structures (taller than 100 metres) far away from airports.
Beside this, there are further types of height restriction laws, depending on architectural reasons.
One of the most important types of restriction involves limiting the height of new buildings so as not to block views of an older work decreed to be important landmark by a government. For example, In the Tsarist Russian capital of Saint Peterburg, buildings could not be taller than the Winter Palace, and in Washington, D.C. since 1910, no building can be more than 20 feet (6m) taller than the width of the street on which it sits.
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To protect the ridge line along Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, height restrictions are imposed according to the location of the buildings or structures.
In Bali, Indonesia, a building cannot be higher than a palm tree, which is about 20 meters. The only building that is higher than a palm tree is the Bali Beach hotel because the hotel was built before the height restriction was announced.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore permits buildings to be constructed only up to a maximum height of 280 metres due to aviation reasons.[1]
Canada has no national height restrictions, but many individual cities do have height restriction bylaws and building is restricted by the national aviation authority (Transport Canada) near airports. Some examples:
Most of Canada's tallest buildings are located in three cities: Toronto, Montreal and Calgary.
In Europe, there is no official general law restricting the height of structures. However, only the following structures exceeding the 1200 ft (365.76 m) level were ever built in Europe outside the territory of former Soviet Union:
| Structure | Year of built | Country | Town | Pinnacle height (m) | Pinnacle height (ft) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gerbrandy Tower | 1961 |  Netherlands |
Lopik | 366.8 m | 1203 ft | Original height: 382.5 m (1255 ft). 1987: height reduction to 375 m (1230 ft). Further height reduction to 366.8 m (1203 ft) on August 2nd 2007 |
| Torreta de Guardamar | 1962 |  Spain |
Guardamar del Segura | 370 m | 1214 ft | radio mast insulated against ground used by US-military for VLF-transmission |
| Longwave radio mast Hellissandur | 1963 |  Iceland |
Hellissandur | 412 m | 1352 ft | radio mast insulated against ground, originally used for LORAN-C, now for longwave broadcasting |
| Emley Moor TV Mast | 1964 |  United
Kingdom |
Emley Moor | 385 m | 1263 ft | collapsed in 1969 |
| Belmont TV Mast | 1965 | United
Kingdom |
Donington on Bain | 388 m | 1273 ft | |
| Berlin TV Tower | 1969 |  Germany |
Berlin | 368 m | 1207 ft | Original height: 362 m (1188 ft), height was latter increased to 365 m (1198 ft) and in 1997 to 368 m (1207 ft) |
| Warszawa Radio Mast | 1974 |  Poland |
Gabin | 646.4 m | 2121 ft | Collapsed in 1991 |
Except for Warszawa Radio Mast and Berlin TV Tower, whose height was until 1997 below the 1200 ft level, all these structures were built before 1965. As the number of architectural structures rapidly increase (see List of tallest structures in Europe), when you go down to the 1200 ft level, 1200 ft seems to be an unofficial maximum height for structures in Europe outside the former Soviet Union.
In the area of former Soviet Union, there seems to exist no official or unofficial height restriction limit as the 540 metres tall Ostankino Tower in Moscow, the 419.7 metres tall chimney of GRES-2 in Eibastusz and the 385 metres tall TV Tower in Kiev show.
The lists of tallest structures in Denmark, Sweden and Finland suggest, that in these countries the height of structures is restricted to 1100 ft (335.28 m).
Beside this, there are height restriction laws in many towns with a lot of old buildings and monuments, because structures far taller than those surrounding it have a known tendency not to mix well with historically or architecturally significant surroundings.
In Athens buildings are not allowed to surpass 12 floors such as not to block the view towards the parthenon. There are several exceptcions though such as the Athens Tower, the Atrina center and the OTE central building who exceed that level. This is due to them being either build far away from the center or the fact that they were constructed in periods of political instability. The city's tallest structure is the Athens Tower reaching 103m and counting 25 floors.
Further height restriction laws exist also in order not to disturb the air exchange in cities, which can be handicapped by large tall buildings.
In the United States, the maximum height of structures of any kind is restricted to 2,000 feet (609.6 m). However, there are exceptions possible, if a taller would be in public benefit (like the KXTV/KOVR Tower) or, of course, if the structure is older than the restriction law, which was made in 1965, as in case of the KVLY/KTHI TV Mast. There are also some locales where no building may be higher than a designated building. An example is in Madison, Wisconsin, where no building may be higher than the Wisconsin State Capitol.
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