Wood Wharf is a 23 acrehttps://group.canarywharf.com/portfolio/wood-wharf/ Wood Wharf, Canary Wharf Group PLC, Retrieved 26 April 2018 site in

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lo ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It is currently under construction to provide offices, residential homes and retail space. The site is next to

. Wood Wharf will contain 5 million square feet of space, which will include 2 million sq ft of office space, 3,330 residential homes, 3.6 hectares (8.9 acres) of public spaces, and 380,000 sq ft of shops, restaurants and space for community use. It is estimated to be completed in 2023. The architects for the site include Allies and Morrison, Darling Associates, KPF, Herzog & de Meuron, Pilbrow & Partners, Stanton Williams Architects, Grid Architects, and Patel Taylor. The masterplan has been designed by Allies and Morrison Architects.

Site history

The Wood Wharf Business Park was sold by British Waterways to a joint partnership in the financial year 2007–08. The

Canal & River Trust The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the ...

is the freeholder of the main site following the transfer of all the assets of

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland ...

in 2012. British Waterways had previously acquired the site from the

Port of London The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North Sea ...

. Canary Wharf Group plc purchased a 250-year lease for the site in January 2012.

First masterplan

In 2003, British Waterways issued a masterplan for a substantial, mixed used redevelopment of the site. The masterplan indicated a potential development size of commercial floorspace (offices, retail and restaurants), of residential use (approximately 1,500 units) and of hotel and serviced apartments. The masterplan has been adopted by Tower Hamlets as interim guidance to support the current local plan.

Development

During 2004, British Waterways held a competition to select a development partner for the project. In 2005, a consortium of British Waterways,

Canary Wharf Group Canary Wharf Group plc is a British property company headquartered in London, England. It is the owner and developer of nearly of property at Canary Wharf and elsewhere in London. Over the last 10 years it has constructed more office space in L ...

and Ballymore Properties established the Wood Wharf Partnership to develop the scheme with

Berwin Leighton Paisner Berwin Leighton Paisner (''BLP'') was an international law firm with 14 offices across 10 countries globally, specializing in real estate, finance, litigation and corporate risk, private wealth and tax. In 2018, Bryan Cave merged with Berwin L ...

as legal advisors. In November 2007, a new master plan was unveiled, by

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) * Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...

.Wood Wharf https://www.rsh-p.com/projects/wood-wharf/ Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners LLP, Retrieved 26 April 2018Masterplanning 2017, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, https://www.rsh-p.com/assets/publications/RSHP_masterplanning.pdf Retrieved 26 April 2018 Outline planning was submitted to Tower Hamlets in July 2008 and were approved in October 2008. The official Wood Wharf website was updated. The new master plan shows considerably higher density, as well as more towers, which are also taller than the previous ones. The next step is to find different architects to design each individual building. The developers want at least one iconic residential, and one iconic office tower as part of the project. The new master plan also contains a

high street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

, which will run up the middle of the site. This will host bars, shops, cafés and restaurants. This will be covered by a glass snake-skin type roof. A planning application was filed on 30 June 2008. On 8 October 2008, Tower Hamlets Strategic Development Committee voted unanimously to grant approval for the application. Canary Wharf Group, which is a 25% partner in Wood Wharf project, does not wish to proceed with the scheme until it has completed and let all of the office projects on and around the original Canary Wharf Estate, including Riverside South, North Quay, Heron Quays West, and 25 Bank Street. In January 2012, Canary Wharf Group took 100% control of the project by paying British Waterways £52.5m for their 50% stake and Ballymore £38m for their 25% stake. Under the agreement Canary Wharf Group has been a granted a new 250-year lease from British Waterways with ground rent payable which will grow to £6m per annum. In September 2012, Terry Farrell was appointed to replace Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in leading the development of the masterplanning.

Second masterplan

In January 2013,

Herzog & de Meuron Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd.,
" Herzog & de Meuron. Retrieved on 11 October 2012. "Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd. R ...

Allies and Morrison Allies and Morrison LLP is an architecture and urban planning practice based in London and Cambridge. Founded in 1984, the practice is now one of Britain's largest architectural firms. The practice's work ranges from architecture and interio ...

and

Stanton Williams Stanton Williams is a British architectural design practice based in Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner ...

were appointed as architects for various elements of the scheme. In December 2013, a new masterplan was submitted to Tower Hamlets by Canary Wharf Group, which placed greater emphases on residential uses compared to the previous plans.

Approval

In July 2014, Tower Hamlets council granted planning permission to construct 30 buildings, comprising 4.9m square feet of homes, offices and shops (planning reference PA/13/02966). Work on the Wood Wharf site is expected to start in autumn 2014, with the first buildings occupied at the end of 2018. In December 2014, it was announced that Boris Johnson had approved the scheme to include "around 25% of the new homes created in the scheme will be affordable homes whilst a review mechanism has been agreed to increase this allocation to around 40% affordable housing".

Buildings

* One Park Drive

References

External links

* * {{coord, 51, 30, 9.55, N, 0, 0, 41.25, W, region:GB, display=title Canary Wharf buildings Redevelopment projects in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets