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Wharf Group destination in its own right ,” Alec says . “ We ’ re revisiting what we built in the last 20-to-30 years , rethinking and recharging the estate to keep it alive and maintain its consistent appeal throughout history .
“ Our reliance on commercial office buildings has drastically declined in the last five years , for instance , with working patterns changing . While companies do still want to establish a working office culture to foster the exchange of information , they now want to work in buildings that perform exceptionally in terms of environmental impact .”
One of the latest news stories relating to Canary Wharf ’ s office space is HSBC ’ s move from its 45-storey tower at 8 Canada Square , which made national press in July 2023 . Alec delivered the project for the banking giant as a project executive in 2002 , but just over 20 years later , we ’ re keen to gain his insight on the ever-changing industry demands .
We ’ re creating a genuinely mixeduse development , with something for everybody …
“ Although at the time of construction the HSBC project team thought it would serve them forever , they didn ’ t foresee sustainability requirements and market changes , which means the building no longer serves their requirements ,” Alec suggests . “ We must consider the ways in which we can either repurpose buildings to make them more environmentally friendly or put them to an alternate use like residential spaces or hotels .
“ Away from our commercial centre , we ’ re currently focusing on residential spaces , with the site housing more than 3400 residents .
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