Canary Wharf

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Canary Wharf
Middlesex

Canada Square, Canary Wharf
Location
Grid reference: TQ375802
Location: 51°30’18"N, 0°1’21"W
Data
Population: 68,700  (2011)
Post town: London
Postcode: E14
Local Government
Council: Tower Hamlets
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Poplar and Limehouse

Canary Wharf is a privately owned financial district in south-easternmost Middlesex, in the former docklands to the east pf the City of London. It is built on the Isle of Dogs, and forms part of London's central business district, along with the City and the West End, and one of the main financial centres in the United Kingdom and the world, Many major global companies and banks' headquarters are here. Its many high-rise buildings including the third-tallest in Britain, One Canada Square.[1][2]

Developed on the site of the former West India Docks in East London, Canary Wharf contains around 16,000,000 square feet of office and retail space. It has many open areas and gardens, including Canada Square, Cabot Square, Westferry Circus, Jubilee Park, and Crossrail Place Roof Garden. Together with Heron Quays and Wood Wharf, it forms the Canary Wharf Estate, around 97 acres in area.

History

The Canary Wharf area in 1899 showing West India Docks and the Isle of Dogs
East view from Cabot Square

Canary Wharf is located on the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs.

West India Dock Company

From 1802 to the late 1980s, what would become the Canary Wharf Estate was a part of the Isle of Dogs (Millwall) and Poplar and was one of the busiest docks in the world. West India Docks was primarily developed by Robert Milligan (c.1746–1809) who established the West India Dock Company.

Port of London Authority

The Port of London Authority was established in 1909 and took control of West India Dock. The enterprise of Sir Alfred Lewis Jones, a Welsh shipping magnate who was a prominent figure in the Canary Islands, Spain, led to a constant stream of ships arriving into London's South Quay Dock and the naming of Canary Wharf, after the ships' origin.[3] It was named after No. 32 berth of the West Wood Quay of the Import Dock. This was built in 1936 for Fruit Lines Ltd, a subsidiary of Fred. Olsen & Co.|Fred Olsen Lines for the Mediterranean and Canary Islands fruit trade. It is located on the Isle of Dogs, the quay and warehouse were given the name Canary Wharf.[4]

London Docklands Development Corporation

After the 1960s, when cargo became containerised, port industry began to decline, leading to all the docks being closed by 1980.[5][6] After the docks closed in 1980, the British Government adopted policies to stimulate redevelopment of the area, including the creation of the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1981.[6]

The Canary Wharf of today began when Michael von Clemm, former chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), came up with the idea to convert Canary Wharf into a back office. Further discussions with G Ware Travelstead led to proposals for a new business district and included the LDDC developing an inexpensive light metro scheme, the Docklands Light Railway, to make use of a large amount of redundant railway infrastructure and to improve access.

The project was sold to the Canadian company Olympia & York[7] and construction began in 1988, master-planned by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with Yorke Rosenberg Mardall as their UK advisors, and subsequently by Koetter Kim. The first buildings were completed in 1991, including One Canada Square, which became the UK's tallest building at the time and a symbol of the regeneration of Docklands. By the time it opened, the London commercial property market had collapsed, and Olympia and York Canary Wharf Limited filed for bankruptcy in May 1992.

Initially, the City of London saw Canary Wharf as an existential threat. It modified its planning laws to expand the provision of new offices in the City of London, for example, creating offices above railway stations (Blackfriars) and roads (Alban Gate). The resulting oversupply of office space contributed to the failure of the Canary Wharf project.

Canary Wharf Group

In October 1995, an international consortium that included investors such as Alwaleed, bought control for $1.2 billion. Paul Reichmann, of Olympia & York, was named chairman, and Canary Wharf went public in 1999.[8] The new company was called Canary Wharf Limited, and later became Canary Wharf Group.

In 1997, some residents living on the Isle of Dogs launched a lawsuit against Canary Wharf Ltd for private nuisance because the tower interfered with TV signals. The residents lost the case.[9]

Recovery in the property market generally, coupled with continuing demand for large floorplate Grade A office space, slowly improved the level of interest. A critical event in the recovery was the much-delayed start of work on the Jubilee Line Extension, which the government wanted ready for the Millennium celebrations.

In March 2004, Canary Wharf Group plc. was taken over by a consortium of investors, backed by its largest shareholder Glick Family Investments[10] and led by Morgan Stanley using a vehicle named Songbird Estates plc.

Tallest buildings

One Canada Square from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich
One Canada Square surrounded by a cluster of skyscrapers

In addition to being a leading global financial district in the United Kingdom, Canary Wharf is famous for a cluster of the tallest modern commercial complexes and residential high-rise buildings.[11] Building from scratch in early 1990s, the district is home to the first tallest iconic skyscraper, One Canada Square, in the United Kingdom. In 20 years, Canary Wharf's new rapid grown skyscraper cluster has dramatically transformed the skyline of London with modern architectures., and for this reason the area is often nicknamed "Manhattan-on-Thames".

Six of the United Kingdom’s ten tallest buildings are located at Canary Wharf:[12]

  • One Canada Square (771 feet
  • Landmark Pinnacle (764 feet; the tallest residential tower in the United Kingdom)
  • Newfoundland (720 feet)
  • Aspen at Consort Place (708 feet)
  • South Quay Plaza (705 feet)
  • One Park Drive (673 feet) hold the seventh to tenth positions.[12]

Leisure

West India Quays and Poplar Dock are two marinas that are used as moorings for barges and private leisure river craft and are owned by the Canal & River Trust.

Canary Wharf hosts two multiplexes (cinemas), one on West India Quay and another at Crossrail Place

An electric karting facility 900 yards long exists within Cabot Square, which can accommodate up to 20 drivers at a single time, with karts reaching speeds of up to 45 mph.[13]

Squares and public areas

Canada Square is one of the central squares at Canary Wharf: a large open space with grass. It is named in honour of the home country of Canary Wharf's original developers, Olympia & York. It has a shopping centre beneath.

Westferry Circus is on the west side of Canary Wharf: a garden at ground level, and below is a roundabout allowing traffic to flow through.

Cabot Square is one of the biggest squares at Canary Wharf, with a large fountain at the centre. It is named after John Cabot and his son Sebastian, who explored the coast of North America for King Henry VI.

Churchill Place is on the east side of Canary Wharf; named after Winston Churchill.

Media

The East London Advertiser (formerly The Docklands & East London Advertiser) is a local newspaper printing weekly and also online.

Wharf Life is a fortnightly publication of 15,000 copies for Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London. An E-edition is also available.[14]

Pictures

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Canary Wharf)

References

  1. ↑ "United Kingdom Skyscraper Diagram". skyscraperpage.com. https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?countryID=133. 
  2. ↑ A. Beaumont (2015). Contemporary British Fiction and the Cultural Politics of Disenfranchisement: Freedom and the City (illustrated ed.). Springer. p. 40. ISBN 9781137393722. https://books.google.com/books?id=dN6_CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT40. 
  3. ↑ Clarke, Ross (13 September 2018). "The peculiar tale of how London's Canary Wharf got its name". https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180912-the-peculiar-tale-of-how-londons-canary-wharf-got-its-name. 
  4. ↑ {{brithist|46497 The West India Docks: The buildings: warehouses, Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 284–300] Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 22 July 2008
  5. ↑ West India Docks (1803–1980) Template:Webarchive (Port Cities) accessed 22 July 2008
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "History". Canary Wharf Group. http://www.canarywharf.co.uk/mainFrm1.asp?strSelectedArea=History. 
  7. ↑ "The Development of Transport in London Docklands – Part I: The Chronological Story". LDDC history. 17 July 1987. A New Era: the Coming of Canary Wharf. http://www.lddc-history.org.uk/transport/tranmon2.html#Era. 
  8. ↑ Khan, Riz (2005). Alwaleed, Businessman Billionaire Prince. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 120–121. ISBN 9780060850302. https://archive.org/details/alwaleed00rizk_0/page/120. 
  9. ↑ The court found against the appellants (Hunter and others) as private nuisance legislation generally concerns "emanations" from land, not interference with such emanations. "Hunter and Others v. Canary Wharf Ltd./Hunter and Others v. London Docklands Corporation" Template:Webarchive House of Lords Session 1996–97. Retrieved on 23 March 2009.
  10. ↑ "Glick family in late move over Canary Wharf battle". The Independent. 2 January 2011. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/glick-family-in-late-move-over-canary-wharf-battle-537306.html. 
  11. ↑ Canary Wharf vs City of London 5 January 2023 Template:Webarchive Canary Development. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 The 100 Tallest Completed buildings in United Kingdom in 2024 Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  13. ↑ "Go Karting London - #1 Go Karting Tracks in London" (in en-GB). https://www.capitalkarts.com/. 
  14. ↑ Wharf life Template:Webarchive Wharf life. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
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