WOOD WHARF

Country: UK, England 
Location: London
Purpose: residential space, office space, retail, services
Main Contractor:  Canary Wharf Group,
Architect:   Allies and Morrison
Our contribution: Performing static, fabrication and site project curtain walls.
Complete: 2018

Wood Wharf is a part of the Canary Wharf in London. It is currently in construction. Many office buildings, residential houses, commercial and service facilities are being built in this area. 
The development of Wood Wharf will cover 330,000 square meters of commercial space (offices, shops and restaurants), 120,000 square meters of residential space and 10,000 square meters of hotels and serviced apartments. It is estimated that the investment will be completed in 2023.

PROJECT
In 2003 British Waterways has released a master plan for significant mixed redevelopment of the Wood Warf area. In 2008, the Wood Wharf development plan was updated. According to the updated project, Wood Wharf is to accommodate significantly more and higher skyscrapers than previously planned. New plan also provides for a higher density of buildings. The plan also includes the construction of a main street that will run through the center of the district. There will be bars, shops, cafes and restaurants. It will be covered with a snake-type glass roof. The planning application was submitted on 30 June 2008. In January 2012, Canary Wharf Group took 100% control of the project, paying British Waterways £ 52.5 million for their 50% stake and Ballymore £ 38 million for a 25% stake. Under the agreement, Canary Wharf Group received a new 250-year lease from British Waterways with rent owed on the land that will increase to £ 6 million per year. In January 2013, Herzog & de Meuron, Allies as well as Morrison and Stanton Williams were appointed architects for various elements of the program.

DEVELOPMENT
In July 2014, the permit for the construction of 30 building, covering 4.9 million square feet of homes, offices and stores was issued. Works in the Wood Wharf area started in Fall of 2014, and the first buildings were commissioned at the end of 2018. Boris Johnson has approved a scheme that stipulates that approximately 25 percent of new homes in Wood Wharf will be affordable homes for a government subsidy. A mechanism for auditing the programs has also been agreed up on, as to not exclude possibility that it will be extended to around 40 percent of affordable housing. The homes built in Wood Wharf range from park townhouses to glass skyscrapers, with a mix of private and social housing. The focal point is Wood Wharf's tallest building - a 211-meter-high cylindrical residential tower overlooking the waters of the South Dock, designed by Herzog & de Meuron. About 3.6 hectares of parks and public squares are under construction, including hundreds of meters of walking paths in the former docks. Authorities hope that the expansion of Wood Wharf will generate thousands of jobs for residents, create high-quality affordable homes and that Wood Wharf itself will become an iconic part of Tower Hamlets district. In 2019, Canary Wharf Group completed the construction of a flagship residential building on the western edge of the financial district - the 58-story New Fundland skyscraper with 566 apartments. In Wood Wharf, offices for technology start-ups and creative media have already been established, as well as a 420-person primary school, NHS medical center, a hotel and over 100 shops, restaurants and cafes.