Canary Wharf Development Experience
The vision of “Lantau tomorrow” includes the construction of the third commercial centre in Hong Kong on the artificial island of Jiaozhou Island. In addition to excellent urban planning, there must be sufficient market and user needs research to help formulate development strategies. Canary Wharf has been transformed from a dock port into one of the major financial and commercial districts in London. Its development experience shows the key factors for success, including the development of market demand, the coordination of collective transport and ancillary facilities, and the setting and Perform strategies to attract target users, and so on.
Canary Wharf is located about 6 kilometers east of the Thames River and the Financial City. The former district was once one of the most prosperous marinas in the world, but since the 1960s, the operating environment has begun to fall back. The British government established the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1981 to rebuild it. Canadian developer Olympia & York (“O&Y”) joined the development program in 1987 with the goal of developing the Canary Wharf area into a high-end business district dominated by financial services. The results of relevant market research and target user research support the development direction of the new financial district.
Canary Wharf began to flourish, mainly after the opening of the Canary Wharf Station on the Jubilee Line in 1999, and various auxiliary facilities (shopping, catering, leisure and hotel accommodation, etc.) were put into operation.
At first, the development experience was difficult. The first commercial building in the district was completed in 1991. However, the traffic configuration was insufficient at that time. Only the Docklands Light Railway service, no subway, and the economic recession, O&Y announced in 1992. Bankruptcy; the construction of the Jubilee Line Canary Wharf Station was the result of a large amount of lobbying work by the Development Company and a contribution of more than £400 million. Looking ahead, the traffic at Canary Wharf will be more convenient, and the Metro Elizabeth line connecting London’s east and west is expected to be fully completed in 2020/21, which will make the Heathrow Airport to and from the west faster.
As of 2018, the office building in Canary Wharf has an area of approximately 16.4 million square meters (the London office market is based on indoor area), with more than 150 major office users (including HSBC, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase Group, etc.) More than 300 shops, bars, restaurants and service facilities, covering an area of over 940,000 square meters, and 4 parks and different gardens, plazas and fountains in the district cover an area of over 8 hectares. With the growth and diversification of Canary Wharf, the proportion of the financial services industry in the overall project business has changed from 70% 10 years ago to 55% last year.
A large number of high-quality, floor-to-floor office buildings have appeared in Canary Wharf, giving large users more choices. In addition to meeting the needs of UK companies, they also attract US financial institutions and international professional services companies. The low financial city is an important attraction for the new development zone. The top-grade new floor rents in the City (about 10,000 per year, no levy and management fees, the same below) are about £70, and Grade A floors are about £60.
Canary Wharf rental levels are divided into three levels, up to pre-rented new floors (approximately £55), followed by owner-controlled refurbished floors, with a minimum tenant-controlled floor (approximately £40 or more) It depends on the decoration and quality of the property.
According to the experience of the London office of our company in the development of Canary Wharf in the past 30 years, the results of the survey on the floor demand (including breadth, depth and nature) of the financial services market in the beginning are an important basis for the success of the project. Bring out detailed research and analysis of the target users. Then, the colleagues of the agency department set up a “fitness” plan for these target users, in order to meet the floor needs of the user’s full line of business. This knowledge of target users and key decision makers in financial markets is an essential element in creating a successful environment.
The location of the commercial centre of the “Low Day Lantau” vision is about 10 km and 15 km respectively from the core business district of Central and the international airport. When the infrastructure is developed first (with highways and railways), it will create convenient transportation. Geographical advantages help attract users. The planned scale (about 43 million square meters of floor space) is larger than that of Canary Wharf. The initial development scale, supporting facilities and timetable for development of the phases will have an important impact on the success of the entire project.