New London Walking Tour - Canary Wharf

Just 28 years after construction began, Canary Wharf is one of London’s planning success stories. This walk will explore new developments in the area as it awaits the arrival of Crossrail in 2018.

Started in 1988, Canary Wharf was conceived as a feat of civic transformation, a financial centre to rival the City of London. But there is more to the Wharf than commerce. It is a socially integrated district where people work, live and play - and with the arrival of Crossrail in 2018 a flourishing future is assured. The tour follows major thoroughfares and winds through public spaces to provide a sense of place and an understanding of both the built and social complexity of the district. We will look at the challenges faced when inserting mega construction projects into the historic super-structure of the former West India Docks with its vast tracts of open water. There will be opportunity to see the work of such architects as Foster + Partners, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and SOM, and consider the future direction the Wharf is taking as development continues into neighbouring Wood Wharf. The tour includes the upper levels of Foster + Partner’s new Crossrail station and concludes at the practice's spectacular underground station.

This walk will start at West India Quay (DLR), the exit point on ground level on the waterfront.