Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa June 2015 | Page 62

UK PROPERTY

Canary Wharf

From derelict docks to Europe’s financial heart
BY MIKE SMUTS

C

anary Wharf has come a long way since the
late 1980s, when a group of investors led
by Canadian developer Olympia and York
Developments Limited set out to transform an area of
derelict shipping docks, three miles east of London’s
traditional financial quarter, into a modern business
hub.
Today, Canary Wharf is home to the headquarters of
numerous major banks, professional services firms and
media organisations, employing about 105,000 people
in 14,000,000 square feet (1,300,000 m2) of office and
retail space.
In January this year, Qatar’s state investment fund
(QIA) and Canadian firm Brookfield Property Partners
purchased the Canary Wharf estate for £2.6 billion.
Building upon Canary Wharf ’s success, the new
owners plan to push ahead with the substantial
extension to the existing Canary Wharf to the East,
backed by a £200 million government loan.
The loan will help pay for the infrastructure required
to “unlock the site to the east of the existing Canary
Wharf estate, including the relocation and upgrading
of utilities for the site,” according to a government
statement.
The project covers close to 4.9 million square feet,
equivalent to about a third of the existing Canary
Wharf footprint, in the area formerly known as Wood
Wharf.
Plans show park side town houses and high-rise
buildings, including a cylindrical residential tower
designed by Herzog and de Meuron, the Swiss
architects behind the extension to the Tate Modern art
gallery and the Beijing ‘Bird’s Nest’ Olympic stadium.
It will also include new substantial green parks and
dockside walks, a library, a large general practice
surgery, a school for 420 children, a community sports
hall and community space.

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JUNE 2015 SA Real Estate Investor

Planning has been granted for 2.2m square feet of
office space within 30 new buildings, specifically aimed
at technology focused start-ups. Canary Wharf is
looking to diversify away from only having one business
sector and is looking to attract technology, media
and telecommunications business to Wood Wharf
by creating Europe’s largest Financial Technologies
(FinTech) centre.

“Plans show park side town
houses and high-rise buildings,
including a cylindrical
residential tower.”
This expansion have already attracted over 150 Small
and Medium Enterprises’ (SME’s) and will see an
increase of jobs from 105, 000 currently to in excess of
200, 000 within the next decade.
The new Canary Wharf Crossrail station opened it’s
top two floors last month, showcasing its wide range
of lifestyle and retail shops, bars and restaurants and a
roof top garden with an arts amphitheatre. The actual
Crossrail line is due for completion early in 2018 and
when operational will offer a direct link to Heathrow
airport and is set to attract more new business to
Canary Wharf.
The Wood Wharf expansion and infrastructure
upgrades signify an important evolution in the
development of Canary Wharf and this thriving
business, shopping and cultural district will no doubt
become one of the most coveted addresses in London.

RESOURCES
Smuts & Taylor Ltd
www.reimag.co.za