Paddington Basin is the name given to a long canal basin, and its surrounding area, in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. The basin commences 500 m south of the junction known as

Little Venice Little Venice is a district in West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent's Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction forms a triangular shape basin. Many of the build ...

, of the

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in e ...

and the

Paddington Arm The Paddington Canal or Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal is a canal to Paddington in central London, England. It runs from the west of the capital at Bull's Bridge in Hayes. Little Venice — its only junction — is with the Re ...

of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

and runs for a similar length east–west. It was opened in 1801, with Paddington being chosen as the site of the basin because of its position on the New Road which led to the east, providing for onward transport. In its heyday, the basin was a major

transshipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g ...

facility, and a hive of activity. Since 2000, the basin has been the centre of a major redevelopment as part of the wider Paddington Waterside scheme and is surrounded by modern buildings.

Redevelopment

The contractors of a developers' consortium in partnership with the

Canal and 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, th ...

(and its predecessor British Waterways) in 2000 drained, cleaned and repaired the basin. In the latter half of the 20th century the basin attracted small and medium-sized commercial offices and is in part lined by specialist and private healthcare wings of St Mary's Hospital. The basin has become home to a wide range of companies, such as

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

, the Head Office of which moved from

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

in 2004. Most of the land north of the canal basin forms the 2010s development Merchant Square, North Wharf Road. Its main developer European Land and Property is a joint venture of Simon and David Reuben (the

Reuben brothers David Reuben (born 1941) and Simon Reuben (born 1944) are Indian-born British businessmen. In May 2020, they were named as the second richest family in the UK by the ''Sunday Times Rich List'' with a net worth of £16 billion. Early life and ba ...

) and the Jarvis family. In all, the development around Paddington Basin is creating of offices, homes, shops and leisure facilities. Its western buildings are mainly complete and occupied as at 2018. ;Completed buildings *Paddington Walk is a block of 232 flats designed by Munkenbeck & Marshall that completed in August 2005. *The Point (224,000 sq ft) and Waterside (240,000 sq ft) are office blocks designed by

Terry Farrell and Partners Farrells is an architecture and urban design firm founded by British architect-planner Terry Farrell with offices in London, Manchester, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The firm has won numerous awards for their characteristic mixed-use schemes, tr ...

and the Richard Rogers Partnership respectively. CurlingBridgeClip

The original plan for the eastern end envisaged a commercial development focused around the Grand Union Basin and included the Winding building and the Grand Union building. The Richard Rogers Partnership originally designed the latter as three towers of 24, 32 and 40 floors rising to 164m, but the planners imposed a height limit of . The revised scheme comprised six linked blocks of 30 storeys totalling of mixed-use space, but the project was discarded when it looked like the site would be needed by the Health Campus (see below). (Subscription required for access) The Health Campus scheme collapsed in 2005 and in February 2006 the Paddington Development Corporation - which became European Land and Property Ltd - submitted a new planning application. Branded as Merchant Square, this proposed of mixed-use space spanning 6 buildings, including 554 residential units and 58% commercial space. Planning permission was granted on 1 March 2007. A revised planning application was subsequently submitted and was approved on 19 May 2011. 4 Merchant Square, a 16-storey block of 196 flats, designed by Tryfon Kalyvides Partnership, completed in 2013; 5 Merchant Square (formerly Carmine) is a 14-storey office block of designed by Mossessian and Partners which became fully let by 2015. Part of the building is occupied by

, which also occupies the Waterside Building. In late 2021,

Premier Inn Premier Inn is a British limited service hotel chain and the UK's largest hotel brand, with more than 72,000 rooms and 800 hotels. It operates hotels in a variety of locations including city centres, suburbs and airports competing with the like ...

constructed their largest, non-airport, hotel in Greater London on the north bank of the basin. The development was completed in March 2022. 3 Merchant Square, a 21-storey development of 159 luxury apartments and 42 standard apartments, was completed in summer 2014. 1 Merchant Square will be a residential tower of 42 storeys designed by Robin Partington Architects, which will be the tallest building in the City of Westminster, containing just over 200 residential units, a 90-room boutique hotel and a sky bar. 2 Merchant Square will be a 16-storey office building providing of Grade A space with of retail space. (Official website) 6 Merchant Square will offer 119 apartments over 15 floors. Paddington Basin North

Merchant Square surrounds a central square. A life-size sculpture in memory of Sir Simon Milton was unveiled in September 2014 by Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The sculpture, designed by Bruce Denny, follows Sir Simon's pivotal role in facilitating the regeneration of Paddington Basin.

Pedestrian bridges

The basin has creatively designed pedestrian bridges: * The Rolling Bridge * The Fan Bridge The Fan Bridge opened in autumn 2014 and moves with the motion of a Japanese hand fan.

Transport

The nearest London Underground stations are

Edgware Road Edgware Road is a major road in London, England. The route originated as part of Roman Watling Street and, unusually in London, it runs for 10 miles in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road, Edgware Road undergoes ...

and

, the latter also being served by

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

References

External links

Paddington Basin
YouTube
Paddington Basin
- Canal and River Trust
Paddington CentralMerchant Square, Paddington
{{Coord, 51.518, N, 0.174, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Redevelopment projects in London Infrastructure in London Regent's Canal Canals in London Canal basins in England and Wales Geography of the City of Westminster Canals opened in 1801 Paddington

Redevelopment

Pedestrian bridges

Transport

See also

References

External links