CANARY WHARF STILL DOCKS
FORCE FOR DEVELOPMENT
For the eighth successive year the £2B Canary Wharf development is proving to be the engine room of London Docklands regeneration. As forecast by London Docklands Online in September 2000, Canary Wharf Group Plc moved to acquire the adjacent Shed 35 scheme from its Middle East owners and contracts have now been finalised

The 6.7 acre site to the north of Canary Wharf has outline planning permission for nearly two million square feet of mixed commercial development, including London's biggest hotel. CWG have also concluded a deal to buy out Malaysian partners from their joint venture Canary Riverside scheme which now has a further 1M sq ft of residential and leisure orientated commercial potential.

With the two towers for HSBC and Citibank already topped out there is a further 1.8M sq ft under construction with two thirds pre-let, including a John Lewis department store/health club and restaurant complex

To the South of Canary Wharf, the massive and exciting Millennium Quarter is underway as are negotiations for the sale of four waterside acres to the East. In the Royal Docks phase two of Excel International Exhibition Centre is being built and site clearing for the 18 acre Peruvian Wharf, a former Tate & Lyle factory, has started.

It is estimate that two thirds of all London's development is taking place in Tower Hamlets, the borough home of Canary Wharf, City fringes and Spitalfields. The change of mind by the London Stock Exchange over a move to Canary Wharf brought a sigh of relief from City fathers. Marks & Spencer made the same decision years ago after announcing a move to Canary Wharf. M&S left the field for Tesco Stores who opened their most successful Metro store in the Canary Wharf Tower.

Latest land price around Canary Wharf is £7.9M an acre and rising as the last sites get snapped up. The previous highest was £4.95M an acre paid for the same site, Shed 35. The demand for sites remains high for the whole of London Docklands, peaking around Canary Wharf but high throughout Wapping, the riverside village that Links Canary Wharf and the City.

Schemes totalling £1B are ready for Royal Docklands where ExCeL is proving to be another "Canary Wharf" in driving forward the regeneration processes. With the April 2001 announcement of the go-ahead of the international rail station at Stratford and £3B Government funding for the Channel Tunnel rail-link from Ebbsfleet to Kings Cross expect increased interest in the 200 acres of derelict railway land around Stratford town centre.

Stratford is linked to Docklands by the Jubilee Line and DLR with journey times of 12 minutes.