Canary Wharf’s reinvention is a triumph
Seven years ago, almost to the day, I found myself leaning backwards over the ledge at the very top of the Barclays tower in Canary Wharf. I exchanged a glance with the then Lord Mayor, Peter Estlin (a former Barclays exec, incidentally) to my left before pushing off like a commando and conducting a flawless, rapid abseil descent.
At least, that’s how I remember it. It’s possible I was a little more tentative. After all, the tower is over 500 feet high.
At the time, Barclays was a mere tenant and Covid was yet to wreak havoc across the Canary Wharf estate. Today, the post pandemic crisis of confidence that knocked the wind out of the iconic financial district is a distant memory, and Barclays has splashed out on a 999 year lease on the tower in what’s being hailed as a full-throated endorsement of Canary Wharf’s revitalised appeal.
The deal is an institutional vote of confidence both in Canary Wharf as a place to be and in London’s continued status as one of the world’s leading international financial and professional centres. With JP Morgan’s plans for a multi-billion pound new tower in Canary Wharf – its most significant presence anywhere outside the US – along with Revolut representing the new generation, the Wharf’s future looks bright.
Pandemic turning point
It looked bright enough when I scrambled down the Barclays tower in 2019, but the pandemic posed a serious threat and forced an acceleration of Canary Wharf Group’s plans to reimagine what the Wharf could be and who it should be for.
While US banks’ disdain for working from home helped prevent the site from becoming a ghost town, CWG has itself spent billions since the pandemic transforming the environment. New homes, cleaner waterways, greater biodiversity, cultural institutions, public art, better restaurants, social infrastructure and leisure facilities have sprung up across the estate, completely changing the proposition and adding immense value – in every sense – to a part of London once merely synonymous with suits and commutes.
Canary Wharf’s emergence three decades ago was itself audacious, but its continued reinvention and reimagining has been key to its survival. It’s now possible to go for an open-air swim on your lunch break before taking in a show at one of London’s newest theatres after work. And, like the Square Mile, it’s now full of life at weekends, too.
Long live Canary Wharf.