Regular readers will know that part of the Isle of Dogs Life story is to look at the past and the present. Last year in March I wrote a couple of posts about the developments happening on the Island and Canary Wharf. Considering it was time for an update, I began to walk around the various developments.
Most of the work at Canary is taking place in the east and west fringes of the estate. two major schemes are under development, New Phase (formerly known as Wood Wharf) and the Newfoundland development.
At first sight, The developments do not seem to have made that much progress. However, the developments are located near the docks and considerable time has been used cleaning and securing the docks. Both of the developments have built cofferdams that have reclaimed parts of the dock to enable building to be undertaken.
When completed there will be 58-storey residential tower on the Newfoundland site and the New Phase site will have a mix of uses, including a residential area for over 3,200 new homes, nearly 2 million sq ft of commercial office space, and 335,000 sq ft of shops, restaurants and community uses.
The other major buildings changing the skyline at the top of the Island is the new Novotel hotel, Baltimore Tower and the Dollar Bay development.
By contrast with the Canary Wharf developments, each of these developments has made significant progress with indications that the Novotel Hotel may be open for business as early as late 2016. Novotel Canary Wharf will have an height of 124m and consist of 39 floors.
The Dollar Bay development at the bottom of South Dock will be a 31 storey tower and is gradually rising above the dock.
Baltimore Tower in Millwall Dock area is likely to become a significant landmark for the Island due to its location away from the Canary Wharf skyscrapers. The development seems well advanced and will eventually be around 45 floors.
Tower Hamlets is at the centre of the tower boom with 18 tall buildings under construction, 27 with planning approval and 14 in planning. It is worth mentioning that not all these big schemes get off the ground and many are often mothballed for years, the Riverside development near Westferry Circus is one such example.
However, even if only a percentage are built it will drastically change the face and the character of the Island. The new developments are still clustered around the top of the Island but its likely that lack of space will see a steady encroachment into the centre which will impinge on the many residential areas.
With a planning stage of generally eight months and then around six years for completion, the full picture of these developments will not really been seen for 6 to 10 years. But these new developments under construction suggest that this once neglected piece of London will over the next ten years will have some of the most expensive property in London.
Isle of Dogs Life 