JP Morgan confirms Canary Wharf move

Songbird Estates and JP Morgan today confirmed that the bank will move in to the former headquarters of Lehman Brothers at 25 Bank Street in Canary Wharf, bringing the bank’s operations east, but leaving the future of the Riverside South offices unclear.

Reuters reports:

The Canary Wharf Group -- which is majority owned by Songbird Estates -- said construction work would recommence immediately to bring the development to the street level and that it had extended its development agreement with JPM until October 2016.

Riverside South is an enormous development planned to be the next stage of Canary Wharf’s growth. Comprised of two towers and huge trading floors, overlooking the Thames, it is designed to be the new European home for JP Morgan and should bring a number of other developments in its wake, ultimately doubling the size of the Wharf. Canary Wharf, like London Bridge, is one of the employment hubs driving Brockley’s long-term development.

Currently under construction, the building will almost certainly not be built on a speculative basis, so needs an anchor tenant. Whether JP Morgan views the Lehman move as an interim measure or a long-term alternative remains unclear and, despite some bowing and scraping by government to JPM leaders, the bank is hedging its bets. In either case, a major bank is relocating to Canary Wharf.

And as an early Christmas treat for the Anonymous bubble boys:

Bubble Boy: "What are you looking at? Haven't seen a kid in a bubble before?"

George: Of course I have, come on! My cousin's in a bubble. My friend Geoffrey's sister also..."

Columbus Tower approval signals further Canary Wharf growth

Mayor Johnson has approved plans for another major expansion of the Canary Wharf business district, according to Building.co.uk.

The 63-floor Columbus Tower will include hotel, office, retail and residential space. Although not in the same league as the Riverside South development, currently under construction, it would be another important step forward for the area, increasing Canary Wharf's pull as a business and leisure destination.

It also strengthens the case for proceeding with Crossrail, partly because of the (admittedly tiny amount of) extra funding it will provide but also because it underlines the potential for further expansion of the area.

With major development pipelines at both London Bridge and Canary Wharf, Brockley is well-positioned as London's economic centre of gravity continues to shift east.

Riverside South boosts Lewisham's future

Riverside South will create demand for homes in Lewisham

One of the world's leading banks, JP Morgan, has submitted a revised planning application for its new Canary Wharf HQ, signalling that the project is almost certain to proceed beyond the foundation construction which has been underway for over a year.

Riverside South is Europe's largest office development, providing 3m square feet to house JP Morgan's London employees. It means thousands more jobs will move to Canary Wharf and should trigger a rash of other developments in the area, including hotel and residential buildings. In short, it means the next wave of the expansion of Canary Wharf will proceed. Although work has been underway for some time, the developer's stated plan was to complete the foundations before confirming that it would proceed with the superstructure.

Many of Lewisham's most important development projects are predicated on the ongoing development of the Wharf, creating growing demand for housing along the route of the DLR. Brockley's organic growth is also being fuelled by the expansion of the Wharf and London Bridge as key employment hubs, dragging the centre of London south and east. The East London Line will dramtically cut commuting times for Canary Wharf workers, from early next year.

At London Bridge, the superstructure for the Shard has recently appeared, meaning that it remains on track to open in 2012, while demolition work to make room for its baby sister "the Gem" [above] has also begun.

London: Land of the Rising Sun (Part 1)

It may not seem it to those of us waiting anxiously for the refurbishment of The Talbot or bemoaning the state of Brockley Road, but London's future lies in the East.

Caitlin Moran puts it neatly in today's Times, so we don't have to:

"The events of Man are rendered neither as thunderclaps nor inviolable calendar entries. Instead they are more like a mist from which you can hear the odd voice saying: “Oh wow - the Industrial Revolution! How long has that been going on? I always miss the start of these things.”

In London's case, an eastward march began properly back sometime around 2000, when new commcercial lettings at Canary Wharf spiked. At the time, everyone was too worried about the Dome's shoddy contents and the spiralling cost of the the Jubilee line to notice.

Global financial meldown notwithstanding, Canary Wharf's future is bright. Its role as the centre of London's banking sector was assured earlier this year when JP Morgan gave up on trying to find a home in the City and plumped for Riverside South in Canary Wharf. This move not only triggers the construction of the UK's largest new office development, it has also hastened the arrival of a cluster of other major new projects, from another giant office complex at Heron Quays West to mixed-use schemes such as City Pride and the Great Eastern Enterprise site. Most excitingly, a masterplan for Wood Wharf will produce a proper waterfront development over the next ten years. The Wharf has brought a critical mass of employment and economic vibrancy to East London, forcing millions of Londoners to re-examine their maps. This is slowly bringing with it a cultural trickle down.

The success of Canary Wharf is dragging infrastructure priorities East too. The expansion of the DLR and capacity on the Jubilee Line would not have happened without it. It's also arguable that Crossrail would not have been approved without the need to keep pace with an expanding Canary Wharf.

Peversely, the rise of Canary Wharf also heralds the rebirth of the City. Belatedly, the Corporation of London has realised that it cannot compete with the huge floorplates on offer in Docklands and prized by big banks. Instead, their focus is now on a more winnable battle with the West End, which has poached many of the Private Equity houses and Hedge Funds, attracted by the high quality of the environment on offer in places like Mayfair. Rather than trying to squeeze unsuitably large buildings on to a medieval street pattern, the City of London is trying to create new public spaces, roof gardens and shopping streets. This means that the East London Line will alight near places like a rejuvenated Cheapside, which is being returned to its roots as London's first high street.

None of this is to say that the west won't still dominate London life, but that the balance of London life is slowly and inexorably shifting eastwards, with similarly transformative projects underway at Greenwich Peninsula, the Olympic Park and Stratford City.

So what is the point of all this, other than to say that those in Brockley with long enough attention and life spans will have their patience rewarded with a few more places to visit on the East London Line? We'll come to that in part two.

London Bridge is the key

Transport expert John Ware writes in today's Guardian that:

"Because of sustained record immigration and migration from within Britain, the capital's population is forecast to grow by perhaps 1.2m - the size of Birmingham- by 2026. To keep moving, and maintain its financial cutting edge, London will need roughly £50bn worth of commuter and light rail capacity, underground rail lines, expanded bus networks, and traffic management systems."

Given this challenge, it is particularly galling to hear that Southern Rail are trying to argue for a reduction in services to Brockley Station, once the East London Line becomes operational. In my earlier article http://brockleycentral.blogspot.com/2007/02/east-london-line-mystery.html I showed the current plans, which indicate no reduction in service is currently planned or necessary. However, the campaign by The Forest Hill Society (among others) suggests that the risk of a reduction is serious.

While I wholeheartedly disagree with those people who say that the East London Line runs to nowhere (they've clearly never looked out from the top of Hilly Fields or Telegraph Hill and noticed the forest of skyscrapers that is growing in Canary Wharf; at least five more towers under construction as we speak) I strongly believe that London Bridge will remain the key transport destination for Brockley residents for a long time to come.

Transport for London already identifies London Bridge as a key transport hub for the future of London's development (it's no conincidence that they've chosen to locate themselves there), with the City gradually colonising Southwark with developments such as More London and London Bridge Tower (which will be Europe's tallest skyscraper) at various stages of development. To the south, the Elephant and Castle is also being transformed, which means that the area along Borough High Street will become an even more popular destination. The long-awaited Thameslink 2000 project is slowly inching its way towards approval, which means that the London Bridge route will eventually turn from a bottleneck in to a main route through the city.

With all this going on, it's ridiculous that a reduction in services is even being contemplated. South East London has historically been starved of public transport infrastucture - the East London Line is an opportunity to address this problem, not just to shift the problem on to another service. The Jubilee line is already seriously overstretched in terms of capacity and a tube journey to London Bridge, with a change at Canada Water, is a poor substitute in terms of cost, convenience and time.

The East London Line may have put Brockley on the (tube) map, but it's the main line services to London Bridge that will keep it moving.

The Sydenham Society have organised a public meeting with Peter Field, Director of London Rail Development on March 14th. Go to http://foresthillsociety.blogspot.com/search/label/east%20london%20line for more information.