Expansion for Canary Wharf

This week saw a decision by Tower Hamlets council to give the go ahead to a new development at Canary Wharf – one that will include residential as well as office, retail, hotel and restaurant space. Canary Wharf group purchased the land in 2012 for £60.4 million.

The Wood Wharf project will amount to 4.9 million square feet of total space, which will include much needed 1,700 new homes. The development will amount to 30 new tower blocks in the area, but interspersed with parks and public spaces and with a primary school and NHS medical centre to serve the new community. 

One of the pervading effects of the financial crisis is that developers are having to think a little more creatively about the space they are designing. They also have to bring more flexible space to the market, not necessarily being able to rely on the big tenants who would once have happily signed up to whole floors or entire buildings. Such tenants have, in recent years, often been inclined to stay put or even downsize. Wood Wharf is an example of such a change in direction at the planning stage. The plans were revised to reduce the size of the individual office buildings to widen their appeal to a greater number of business tenants. 

Construction is due to start towards the end of this year, with occupation commencing in around four years, it was reported by Canary Wharf Group. In line with existing trends, the company will be targeting the TMT (Technology, Media and Telecoms) sector as occupants for its office space. 

The area will also, of course, benefit from the Crossrail service, which will be due to commence around the same time that the development welcomes its first occupiers. 

This news was brought to you by Morgan Pryce, a specialist tenant acquisition agent with offices in Oxford Circus and the City. Morgan Pryce specialises in search, negotiation and project management and works exclusively for tenants.