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As the capital city of the United Kingdom, and for a number of other reasons, London is one of the leading financial centres in the world. It is actually often described as the “command centre” for global economy.

At the current moment, London accounts for as much as 22 percent of the whole annual turnover of British economy. It has been estimated that the economy of London is as big as those of whole countries such as Sweden and Iran, and even bigger than others. There are nearly a million private businesses that are registered in London at the present moment. Traditionally, it is believed that the City – the cultural and historical heart of London – is the place where the most intense commercial activities are taking place in. Even though it is true, in the past couple of decades another district – the one of Canary Wharf in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets – is gaining much strength. Let’s have a look at the reasons for that.

The origins of Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf first came to prominence when the West India Docks on the Isle of Dog were built in the vicinity of the present day district. Canary Wharf used to be the busiest dock in the world in the period between 1802 and 1939, a place where people and goods from the most isolated places on the planet would come. The problem was that when the colonial trade system collapsed in the middle of the 20th century, Canary Wharf was no longer in a position to maintain its former status and glory. By 1980, the last docks here were closed. The area was already falling into demise, and it was clear that things are going to get only worse from there on, unless something was done about the situation. The British Government created the so called London Docklands Development Corporation in 1981. The purpose of this organization was to come up with ideas about how to develop and maintain the place, so that it has a future.

The new face of Canary Wharf

The district became the important financial and commercial centre that it currently is quite quickly. This happened thanks to the initiative demonstrated by one Michael von Clemm. Von Clemm used to be a CEO of Credit Suisse First Boston. He came up with what was to prove to be a brilliant idea – to turn the former West India Docks into a back office territory. Further discussions and planning ensued, of course, and this is when more and more investors became convinced that it is actually a viable idea that is worth pursuing. The Canadian company Olympia & York bought the rights to the project and the first construction works began in 1988. Several buildings, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with Yorke Rosenberg Mardall as their UK advisors, and subsequently by Koetter Kim, were built, the first one among them completed in 1991. One of those first developments in Canary Wharf was actually the iconic One Canada Square, which at the time of its erection was the tallest building in London, and one of the tallest in Europe.

A treat to the City of London

At first the reactions towards the new development at Canary Wharf was met with much distrust and even fear from the colleagues in the City. The main concern was that the City of London was going to lose its importance of a financial centre, which was not a thing the corporations operating there were willing to let happen. In short – the town was not big enough for both the City and Canary Wharf. This led to several actions that in retrospect prove to be ineffective. Planning laws were modified as to allow more office buildings to be constructed in the City of London. Those modifications included building permits for terrains above railway stations, such as in Blackfriars, and roads too – the case of Alban Gate. Some specialists contribute the initial failure of the One Canada Project namely to this oversupply of offices in the City.

Subsequent development

It was in 1995 when the Canary Wharf Group, then called Canary Wharf Limited, was created. They were responsible for the future development of the place. At the same time the property market in general began stabilizing, while at the same time more and more big scale companies started looking for A grade office space in the capital. The Jubilee Line expansion, which connected Canary Wharf to Central London is also considered a contributing factor in pushing forward the development of Canary Wharf. More and more buildings were constructed in the area, and nearly all of them were almost immediately sold out. Some of the them for really astonishing prices. For example, at the peak of the market, the HSBC building was sold for the astounding 1.1 billion GBP in 2007. More and more companies began relocating to Canary Wharf, and skillful commercial removal contractors in London began operating in the area as well. It is important to point out that the business in the City did not suffer at all from this expansion – actually, London is now more and more active on the global markets, and there is enough business for everyone.

The tallest buildings in Canary Wharf

Some of the most ambitious construction projects that were commenced in Canary Wharf led to the creation of many tall buildings, home to multi-billion-pound corporations. Among the most iconic structures in the district at the present moment include:

1) One Canada Square

2) 8 Canada Square

3) 25 Canada Square

4) One Churchill Place

5) 40 Bank Street

6) 10 Upper Bank Street

7) 25 Churchill Place

1 West India Quay

9) 33 Canada Square

10) 1 Cabot Square

As you can see, all the tallest buildings in Canary Wharf are referred to with their respective addresses, which is actually a rather regular practice in London. In addition to commercial space, there are plans for the construction of residential developments in Canary Wharf as well. Housing for some 10 000 people is currently created here.