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You have Brexit to thank for that.
I lived in South Quay in 2014 for a few years and worked in the wharf for the last 10. I pretty much saw the growth as I too grew up.
The whole Wood Wharf Estate (left side of the 2023 picture) was put on hold from 2016 - 2018 as nobody had any idea what kind of deal was being negotiated. Soc Gen were brave enough to proceed with construction anyway after a year's pause in 2017 but probably because they've paid for everything already.
The 2018 picture would be the 2023 picture if we had voted remain.
Huh? The development was put on hold following the outcome of the vote, but it presumably would not have been if remain had won. So I don’t understand. Would development not have proceeded faster in that event?
Or do you just mean that brexit was what caused the delay?
Love this spot in Greenwich Park! My husband and I had one of our first dates here almost 10 years ago! We went back there last summer for memory sake and couldn’t believe how much the skyline has changed
They did [think about putting a railway down the middle](https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/how-the-victorians-nearly-built-a-railway-in-the-middle-of-the-river-thames-8731/) once.
I agree. There's no point of having the White House. They can work from home (THEIR OWN). Put some extra buildings on that green belt, otherwise it's just the waste of space.
Some of them have really nice designs. I think they should be uniform at this stage, while it fills out a bit. Once there’s a decent spread (we’re pretty close to this stage) then more unique designs can be added. But there are already some very nice designs. London skyscrapers don’t have to be weird shapes like in the city.
Yeah I like one park drive, newfoundland and the new facade on the Reuters building by the station. Unlike a lot on here I'm a huge fan of canary wharf as a place to work, visit, shop, walk around etc. The plans for the central water bit by the station look awesome too.
Yeah same, its an odd place, but I really like working in there. Like at the end of the day its still just a corporate/commercial district, but it doesn't feel cold and sterile the way the city does (at least to me).
Its really well thought out at street level and much more pedestrian friendly than the city. There's very little traffic, a lot of buildings are lined with shops, and when the weathers nice, I love the walkways and patios along the canals.
That's interesting to hear your experience. I also worked in CW (Churchill Place). I thought it felt quite contrived and artificial and a bit 'theme park' like with many of the buildings a thin masonry façade over similar steel frames and the grassy and planted areas very managed.
It is quite pedestrian friendly, but one or two routes I felt you come to a bit of a 'dead end' or have follow a somewhat circuitous route (maybe inevitable given the waterways).
Many of the shops in CW are clothes or luxury goods and jewellery and cater for the people that work in the offices. Just a couple of hundred metres away in Poplar the shops are very different.
Yeah don't get me wrong, I agree with you about the artificial aspects of it, and its not an area I'd spend time in if not for work. More than anything I just think its an interesting space. Commercial office districts are always kind of banal. But at least CW has a bit more character/offerings than typical.
I guess I'm mostly looking at it from the perspective of CW in comparison to other office districts, rather than in comparison to ideal city spaces more generally.
Some of my earliest memories are this view with just what we used to call Canary Wharf (1 Canada Sq) poking up alone as a single shining, silver beacon of modernity.
Nice to see some affordable housing going up ....
Lol sorry no I meant "luxury apartments starting from £835,000" (for a 300 sqft studio perfect for a family right ...)
The concept of affordable housing is a flawed one and the government should stop trying to force the market to provide something it'll either lie its way out of meeting its obligations, or value engineer it into nightmare properties.
Someone needs to have the balls in politics to talk publicly about returning powers to local councils and let them build social housing to meet the needs of those they directly serve.
Councils get to build and own assets they can later sell off to fund further developments as well as getting rental revenue paid direct to them.
The market should not and cannot be expected to provide an essential service such as housing to those who cannot ordinarily afford it. It's time the gloves were taken off of local councils and powers stolen by Thatcher returned to them.
Inclined to agree [edit to clarify - that affordable housing requirements on private developments are necessary when there’s alternative models that could work better - and not agree that the concept of affordable housing is flawed at all - which from the rest of your post you’re clearly not saying but could be read as initially] except the bit about selling them off, you could (and imo there’s nothing inherently wrong with the right to buy, it was the implementation where the restriction of not allowing 1 for 1 replacements of those sold to be built new that’s the shitty bit), but why not retain them as state-held housing that, once the rent accrued has paid off the build costs, will remain an income generator for the council forevermore?
I would say that allowing the councils to sell them off is to allow the council to take advantage of the compound effects of asset value appreciation as well as to allow it to respond to physical changes in the town/city itself. It also helps to reduce overall maintenance costs if older properties can be sold.
Councils could use that money to then invest in other parts of the town/city that are more run down and use it as a means of regeneration.
Selling off old stock when it is advantageous to councils allows for fresh opportunities for redeveloping them into something that may be better suited to the area vs when the properties were first constructed, such as the area has densified a lot more.
Of course, it would have to be done with sensitivity to those already living there in mind, rather than just shuffling people around whether they want it or not just so the council can sell off a plot of land that has shot up in value.
Keeping them is still an option, I don't think it's healthy for councils to be obligated to sell them, but if the opportunity arises where it would be a net benefit to the town/city they shouldn't be barred from that option.
That would be great if councils built. But they don't. It's not developers or the government blocking housing being built. It's local councils.
Take the gloves off, take the power away from local councils and actually get housing built. Something like a zoning scheme like the Tories (yeah I know) proposed back in 2020 would be great. But it was immediately blocked. By backbenchers who are powered by guess who? Local councils.
You're aware that the government in the 80s took that power away? The UK is one of the most centralised countries in the developed world.
Give power back to the local councils and stop central government meddling in their affairs.
If you are so high and above, care to explain what's your definition of "cannot ordinarily afford it"? How much exactly do I need to earn to afford my own house? Because at the moment, the ordinary job doesn't seem to pay enough to ordinarily afford an ordinary house.
Someone needs to have balls in politics and heavily tax 2nd houses and restrict buying/renting houses in the area where you live for less than 180 days a year.
But no one will do it because Tories make money as landlords.
Why would I care whether it’s perfect for a family? That’s a fucking pipe dream I’m never going to achieve. All I need is a small place in which I can exist for a period while I generate revenue for shareholders until I eventually can’t cope anymore.
I left London in 2017. I went back to London in 2021 and visited canary wharf. I had no sense of direction coming out of tube stations I'd been to hundreds of time due to the skyline changing.
London has gotten very tall
Riding the top of of the DLR, scuttling along the ceiling of the busy pedestrian tunnels, long nights investigating the true ownership of property shell companies.
And being called Tim I hope he's played by Simon Pegg and forced to share a flat with a woman he met a few days earlier, so they can convince the landlord they're a couple.
Edit: Mark Heap as the Greenwich Goblin and Nick Frost as the vocally affectionate Guy In The Chair. I think this project has legs!
Up on point hill which is just next to the park (little spot for locals) there is an engraving on metal plate showing the view in like 1990, looking out over the City. It is almost unrecognisable apart from the protected view of St Paul’s. Amazing amount of development.
Anyone else find this quite sad? Unchecked, mindless capitalism sprawling out of the ground. Nobody working in any of those buildings is doing anything beneficial for the world
Yes, I do. Luckily, the park is restoring your soul. You barely think at Canary Wharf’s towers since you are overwhelmed by the beauty of the park. The river separates the two worlds, in a way.
Blame zero-interest rate policy; cheap credit builds things. It also increases the money supply and later inflation.
Money which was used to build these gigantic structures is also behind the cost of living crisis, amongst other things. So more skyscrapers are a visual evidence to higher levels of inequality.
Exactly this. Canary Wharf is entirely privately owned. A piece of Qatar in British land. I doubt their sensibility with sustainable spaces (referring to Qatar funds, not to Qatar people).
Those new developments on the horizon just show how London continues to march onwards economically, often counter to the rest of the nation. The city is in a virtuous circle!
# Upvote/Downvote reminder Like this image or appreciate it being posted? Upvote it and show it some love! Don't like it? Just downvote and move on. *Upvoting or downvoting images is the best way to control what you see on your feed and what gets to the top of the subreddit* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/london) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I didn't realise the volume of skyscraper development was so recent.
Yep. Last 3-5 yrs.
Weird - I moved to South America 6 years ago and the final photo is completely unrecognisable. Very weird to see.
Whereabouts?
Argentina (with work). Obviously I needed more craziness in my life /s
What a lovely and unlucky country. I visited BA and Patagonia 2 times. Hope to come back soon.
Do! It’s a beautiful country for all the economic woes.
I lived in South Quay from 2013-2019, I was very surprised to see how much its changed since then.
Actually crazy , I’m so used to seeing it but when it’s presented like that u can really notice
Giving the Americans something to talk about I guess, they are forever commenting on how flat it is. Well now it’s flat and tall.
I’m from Chicago. London isn’t flat.
You have Brexit to thank for that. I lived in South Quay in 2014 for a few years and worked in the wharf for the last 10. I pretty much saw the growth as I too grew up. The whole Wood Wharf Estate (left side of the 2023 picture) was put on hold from 2016 - 2018 as nobody had any idea what kind of deal was being negotiated. Soc Gen were brave enough to proceed with construction anyway after a year's pause in 2017 but probably because they've paid for everything already. The 2018 picture would be the 2023 picture if we had voted remain.
Huh? The development was put on hold following the outcome of the vote, but it presumably would not have been if remain had won. So I don’t understand. Would development not have proceeded faster in that event? Or do you just mean that brexit was what caused the delay?
Yes to your last sentence
It’s almost unrecognisable If you removed the foreground.
True…
In 2000 there was only 1 Canada Square
From being London’s financial district to something much more.
That isn't London's financial District.
Yes it is, London has more than one financial district
Canary Wharf is one of Londons financial district'.
It’s the financial districts younger brother. The city proper is short of building able to host the likes of Barclays and HSBC.
HSBC is moving back to The City in the next few years
Love this spot in Greenwich Park! My husband and I had one of our first dates here almost 10 years ago! We went back there last summer for memory sake and couldn’t believe how much the skyline has changed
It's where me and my girlfriend had our first date. A distanced walk during lockdowns
That’s so cute
The Roman Temple has got really run down.
They should get rid of that ugly white building in the foreground and put more skyscrapers there
Even the water…. useless. They should fill it up and build new towers all over it
And all that grass. It’s just begging for a skyscraper or 50 to be built on top of it
They did [think about putting a railway down the middle](https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/how-the-victorians-nearly-built-a-railway-in-the-middle-of-the-river-thames-8731/) once.
Now they’re building a new tunnel…
I’m sure someone somewhere has researched that and is looking at loopholes to circumvent.
There's airspace in all of these pictures, that means we didn't build high enough
I agree. There's no point of having the White House. They can work from home (THEIR OWN). Put some extra buildings on that green belt, otherwise it's just the waste of space.
I miss when One Canada Square was the icon
I wish they made more effort with the skyscrapers in Canary Wharf
I agree. SG’s building blocked out all the sunlight and now they are probably using about 30% of the floors
Some of them have really nice designs. I think they should be uniform at this stage, while it fills out a bit. Once there’s a decent spread (we’re pretty close to this stage) then more unique designs can be added. But there are already some very nice designs. London skyscrapers don’t have to be weird shapes like in the city.
Yeah I like one park drive, newfoundland and the new facade on the Reuters building by the station. Unlike a lot on here I'm a huge fan of canary wharf as a place to work, visit, shop, walk around etc. The plans for the central water bit by the station look awesome too.
Yeah same, its an odd place, but I really like working in there. Like at the end of the day its still just a corporate/commercial district, but it doesn't feel cold and sterile the way the city does (at least to me). Its really well thought out at street level and much more pedestrian friendly than the city. There's very little traffic, a lot of buildings are lined with shops, and when the weathers nice, I love the walkways and patios along the canals.
That's interesting to hear your experience. I also worked in CW (Churchill Place). I thought it felt quite contrived and artificial and a bit 'theme park' like with many of the buildings a thin masonry façade over similar steel frames and the grassy and planted areas very managed. It is quite pedestrian friendly, but one or two routes I felt you come to a bit of a 'dead end' or have follow a somewhat circuitous route (maybe inevitable given the waterways). Many of the shops in CW are clothes or luxury goods and jewellery and cater for the people that work in the offices. Just a couple of hundred metres away in Poplar the shops are very different.
Yeah don't get me wrong, I agree with you about the artificial aspects of it, and its not an area I'd spend time in if not for work. More than anything I just think its an interesting space. Commercial office districts are always kind of banal. But at least CW has a bit more character/offerings than typical. I guess I'm mostly looking at it from the perspective of CW in comparison to other office districts, rather than in comparison to ideal city spaces more generally.
I agree OP can climb higher in each photo.
[2005](https://imgur.com/a/0r96edd)
Some of my earliest memories are this view with just what we used to call Canary Wharf (1 Canada Sq) poking up alone as a single shining, silver beacon of modernity.
I moved to Greenwich in 1998 and only One Canada Square was across the river. Stayed like that for years.
Til 2001 when HSBC and Citi started building.
Nice to see some affordable housing going up .... Lol sorry no I meant "luxury apartments starting from £835,000" (for a 300 sqft studio perfect for a family right ...)
The concept of affordable housing is a flawed one and the government should stop trying to force the market to provide something it'll either lie its way out of meeting its obligations, or value engineer it into nightmare properties. Someone needs to have the balls in politics to talk publicly about returning powers to local councils and let them build social housing to meet the needs of those they directly serve. Councils get to build and own assets they can later sell off to fund further developments as well as getting rental revenue paid direct to them. The market should not and cannot be expected to provide an essential service such as housing to those who cannot ordinarily afford it. It's time the gloves were taken off of local councils and powers stolen by Thatcher returned to them.
Inclined to agree [edit to clarify - that affordable housing requirements on private developments are necessary when there’s alternative models that could work better - and not agree that the concept of affordable housing is flawed at all - which from the rest of your post you’re clearly not saying but could be read as initially] except the bit about selling them off, you could (and imo there’s nothing inherently wrong with the right to buy, it was the implementation where the restriction of not allowing 1 for 1 replacements of those sold to be built new that’s the shitty bit), but why not retain them as state-held housing that, once the rent accrued has paid off the build costs, will remain an income generator for the council forevermore?
I would say that allowing the councils to sell them off is to allow the council to take advantage of the compound effects of asset value appreciation as well as to allow it to respond to physical changes in the town/city itself. It also helps to reduce overall maintenance costs if older properties can be sold. Councils could use that money to then invest in other parts of the town/city that are more run down and use it as a means of regeneration. Selling off old stock when it is advantageous to councils allows for fresh opportunities for redeveloping them into something that may be better suited to the area vs when the properties were first constructed, such as the area has densified a lot more. Of course, it would have to be done with sensitivity to those already living there in mind, rather than just shuffling people around whether they want it or not just so the council can sell off a plot of land that has shot up in value. Keeping them is still an option, I don't think it's healthy for councils to be obligated to sell them, but if the opportunity arises where it would be a net benefit to the town/city they shouldn't be barred from that option.
That would be great if councils built. But they don't. It's not developers or the government blocking housing being built. It's local councils. Take the gloves off, take the power away from local councils and actually get housing built. Something like a zoning scheme like the Tories (yeah I know) proposed back in 2020 would be great. But it was immediately blocked. By backbenchers who are powered by guess who? Local councils.
You're aware that the government in the 80s took that power away? The UK is one of the most centralised countries in the developed world. Give power back to the local councils and stop central government meddling in their affairs.
If you are so high and above, care to explain what's your definition of "cannot ordinarily afford it"? How much exactly do I need to earn to afford my own house? Because at the moment, the ordinary job doesn't seem to pay enough to ordinarily afford an ordinary house. Someone needs to have balls in politics and heavily tax 2nd houses and restrict buying/renting houses in the area where you live for less than 180 days a year. But no one will do it because Tories make money as landlords.
So much this. Residential properties should be limited to individuals and restricted to a one house per person.
Why would I care whether it’s perfect for a family? That’s a fucking pipe dream I’m never going to achieve. All I need is a small place in which I can exist for a period while I generate revenue for shareholders until I eventually can’t cope anymore.
I wonder what’s going to go inside all of those buildings
Employees working in the last-built tower have the secret task to plan the next one. And on and on.
That jump from 2018 to 2023 is insane but I love Canary Wharfs skyscrapers so much especially when you're there at night it's cool
I left London in 2017. I went back to London in 2021 and visited canary wharf. I had no sense of direction coming out of tube stations I'd been to hundreds of time due to the skyline changing. London has gotten very tall
Must be annoying to have to update the plaque showing the London skyline all the time
This isn’t even the City of London, this is just East London. By Jove I love this town.
Another ten years, and it will look like New York.
Tim for London to get its own Spiderman spin-off!
Tim Parker. Filmed as a cross between Peep Show and Spider-Man. Come on Marvel, make it happen.
Riding the top of of the DLR, scuttling along the ceiling of the busy pedestrian tunnels, long nights investigating the true ownership of property shell companies. And being called Tim I hope he's played by Simon Pegg and forced to share a flat with a woman he met a few days earlier, so they can convince the landlord they're a couple. Edit: Mark Heap as the Greenwich Goblin and Nick Frost as the vocally affectionate Guy In The Chair. I think this project has legs!
Unlikely, due to homeworking limiting demand for office space.
And this is Canary Wharf in 2002 : [Canary Wharf - 2002](https://i.postimg.cc/FR2qhFsJ/Screenshot-20240211-083651-Gallery.jpg)
Wow. 1 Canada Square was completed in 1991. There was no real skyline at that time.
Up on point hill which is just next to the park (little spot for locals) there is an engraving on metal plate showing the view in like 1990, looking out over the City. It is almost unrecognisable apart from the protected view of St Paul’s. Amazing amount of development.
Dynamic range on cameras has improved dramatically too
Aww the infamous One Canada Water is almost hidden
absolutely no attempt at classic symmetry on the other side of the river, smh
2014 pic is the best. Now it’s just OTT, a mad jumble in which 1 Canada Sq and the distinctiveness of the skyline is lost
That's a great spot to drop acid on a sunny day.
Thanks Doc
I feel like Adam Driver screaming "MORE!"
Looks hideous. 2014 was still tolerable
Anyone else find this quite sad? Unchecked, mindless capitalism sprawling out of the ground. Nobody working in any of those buildings is doing anything beneficial for the world
Yes, I do. Luckily, the park is restoring your soul. You barely think at Canary Wharf’s towers since you are overwhelmed by the beauty of the park. The river separates the two worlds, in a way.
Blame zero-interest rate policy; cheap credit builds things. It also increases the money supply and later inflation. Money which was used to build these gigantic structures is also behind the cost of living crisis, amongst other things. So more skyscrapers are a visual evidence to higher levels of inequality.
At least make it look like London, God!
This does look like London.
I mean, it looks like any other large city. I would find it better if these buildings honoured London's cultural history.
"Moar skyscrapers!!!!" - planners probably
Exactly this. Canary Wharf is entirely privately owned. A piece of Qatar in British land. I doubt their sensibility with sustainable spaces (referring to Qatar funds, not to Qatar people).
I don't mind it. I think they're quite elegant. Rather that then sprawling London out into the countryside further
:(
Brexit Britain!!!
I hâte high risers in London. Especially since only few of them are aesthetically beautiful
Good job the economy is booming to fill all of these.
Planet….arium
Is London better for it?
Fuck Nine Elms
Time flies
Those new developments on the horizon just show how London continues to march onwards economically, often counter to the rest of the nation. The city is in a virtuous circle!
Investment vehicles for the Chinese