Canary Wharf Group has unveiled plans to remove large chunks from the HSBC tower as part of a revamp of the 42-storey office block when the bank moves out in 2027, in a reflection of the changing face of the east London financial district after the pandemic.
The property company said it would carve out sections of the tower’s facade to create terraces as part of plans to transform the block into a mixed-use building that would include leisure facilities and a public viewing gallery.
Developers behind the district are attempting to reshape its image as the rise in working from home cuts office demand and has changed when the busiest times are in the Docklands area.
Canary Wharf Group (CWG), which manages the building on behalf of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), said it would be the largest-ever conversion of an office tower into a mixed-use building. The revamp, which has been proposed by the US architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, is expected to be finished by about 2030.
QIA acquired the property from the National Pension Service of South Korea in 2014 for £1.1bn.
The building, known officially as 8 Canada Square, was completed in 2002 and has been the headquarters of HSBC ever since. Last year the bank announced plans to relocate before its lease expires in early 2027.
CWG said the tower would continue to include some office space, as well leisure, entertainment and cultural attractions.
Designers will carve out new terraces by making some floors smaller, and the building will be divided into defined sections to make it easier to lease.
Elie Gamburg, a design principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox, said: “We are extremely excited to collaborate with QIA and CWG to reimagine the single-use office building as a blueprint for the highly sustainable, mixed-use building of the future.”
Shobi Khan, the chief executive of CWG, said: “This redevelopment is another step in Canary Wharf’s evolution into a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood offering workspace, retail, homes, leisure and amenities all in one location – a true 15-minute city.”
The FT reported that the conversion could cost between £400m and £800m but the company said those figures had not been precisely budgeted because the design had yet to be finalised.
The office property market has taken a hit since Covid-19 as more people work from home and a number of businesses try to reduce the amount of office space they own.
Figures from the second quarter of 2023 showed that office occupation at Canary Wharf had fallen to just under 85%, well below the pre-2020 level which was consistently higher than 90%.
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HSBC said it would move from Canary Wharf to a smaller head office near St Paul’s Cathedral as part of a decision to reduce its office space by 40%.
However, there has been a boost to non-professional visitors heading to Canary Wharf, with a record 67 million people going there last year, a quarter more than in the previous year.
Canary Wharf was the creation of the late Canadian property tycoon Paul Reichmann, who befriended the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher. The late former PM gave the development generous tax breaks as part of the project to overhaul London’s Docklands. Construction began in 1988 and its first skyscraper, the 244-metre One Canada Square, topped by a pyramid, was Britain’s tallest building for two decades until the opening of the Shard in London Bridge in 2012.
The district’s fortunes have largely reflected the wider economy, buffeted by the recessionary headwinds of the early 1990s, the 2008 financial crisis and latterly the pandemic and its after-effects.
Much of Docklands’ transformation can be credited to George Iacobescu, who escaped poverty in Romania and would ultimately lead the Canary Wharf Group. He retires as its chair this month.
In response to the pandemic-fuelled shift towards home working, the developers behind Canary Wharf have attempted to shake off its sterile architectural image, adding shops, housing, restaurants and bars, and landscaping the areas between its glass and steel towers.
Its backers have also tried to bring in new footfall through public attractions, including outdoor public art trails and free family events such as open-air film screenings and music and theatre festivals.
