Wood Wharf project gets go-ahead
Plans for a waterside mixed-use development, immediately adjacent to Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, London, has been granted outline planning permission by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
The mixed-use project, called Wood Wharf, is a partnership between developers Ballymore Group, the urban regeneration company Canary Wharf Group and the site's owners British Waterways. GVA Grimley is the planning adviser for the development .
The site is currently a combination of industrial and derelict space and will be redeveloped over the next 10 to 15 years in four phases. Designed by architects Rogers Strik Harbour + Partners and landscape designers Martha Schwartz Partners, the development includes a new waterside community park, a health and wellbeing centre, an outdoor market and leisure facilities.
The 17-acre (7-hectare) site will also be a hotel, new canal boardwalks and ecology areas as well as pedestrian and cycle links, connecting Wood Wharf to Canary Wharf.
Jason Larkin, Wood Wharf Limited Partnership's (WWLP) executive director of planning, said: "This will be one of the UK's largest mixed-use developments. Our vision is to create a new world-class business and residential urban quarter set within an exciting waterside setting."
There will also be six commerical building providing 4.9 million sq ft of office space and six residential buildings, consisting of 1,668 homes, as well as a new high street featuring restaurants, shops, bars and cafés.
WWLP is intending to find different architects to design each individual building as it wants at least one iconic residential, and one iconic office tower as part of the project.
David Tomlin, WWLP's executive project director, said: "The buildings will range in height from 206m on the west of the site, adjacent to Canary Wharf, down to 33m on the east side close to the River Thames.
"The buildings will incorporate some of the latest in green technology, such as the use of dock water cooling and district heating and cooling systems. In addition the site will include a series of 'eco-islands' and nature walks on the doorstep of London's newest business district."
The scheme is expected to deliver in excess of £50m worth of planning benefits to Tower Hamlets in one of the largest Section 106 packages ever agreed and a £100m financial contribution towards the Crossrail project.
A Reserved Matters application will be submitted in 2009 for the first phase and demolition is scheduled to begin in January 2009, with construction planned to start in May. Details: http://www.woodwharf.com/