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Tower Hamlets Council has granted planning permission to Canary Wharf Group for a major new three million sq. ft gross (approx) commercial office and retail development at Riverside South. This permission follows a review by both the Mayor of London and the Government Office for London.
The Riverside South scheme is proposed on the highest quality site remaining along the River Thames. Designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership, the scheme comprises two office towers - one to the north of the site and one to the south.
The towers are respectively 194 and 220 metres above Ordnance Datum, with 28 and 34 office floors.
The towers will be linked by a lower building in the centre of the site, which has three enhanced height floors to facilitate trading operations and other special tenant requirements.
There will also be a significant retail presence, with shops and restaurants lining the entire riverside frontage at the lower ground level, opening on to a public pedestrian walkway. This will be the
longest length of retail/leisure facilities anywhere along the river in London.
The planning application was granted subject to a Section 106 agreement valued at £20m. This amount is to include a community fund, a small park, public space and transport improvements among other benefits to local people.
George Iacobescu, Chief Executive of the Canary Wharf Group said: “This landmark development marks the beginning of the next
generation of buildings for Canary Wharf and we are looking forward to continuing our excellent relationship with Lord Rogers and his team in developing this stunning riverside location. We also appreciate the huge efforts of both the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Canary Wharf teams over the last two years to achieve this result.”
Previous tower buildings at Canary Wharf were approved under the Enterprise Zone Scheme administered by the former London Docklands
Development Corporation. This is the first full planning application from Canary Wharf for tower buildings and marks a new milestone as the estate matures.
The south tower will be the second highest in the Canary Wharf estate, after One Canada Square. Canary Wharf will look for a significant pre-let before construction of the development begins.
