From Britain’s tallest building to Europe’s fastest lifts, Canary Wharf is filled with Olympian feats of engineering and construction

One Canada Square

At 236 m high, this is the tallest building in Britain

Architects Cesar Pelli & Associates, Adamson
Associates, Frederick Gibberd Coombes & Partners
Structural engineers Yolles & Partners, Waterman Partnership
Mechanical engineers Mitchell Partnership, Donald Smith Seymour & Rooley
Electrical engineer HH Angus & Associates
Floors 50
Net area 115,000 m2

one Westferry Circus

Architect Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural engineer Cantor Seinuk
Mechanical and electrical engineer Cosentini Associates
Net area 20,200 m2

30 The South Colonnade

Architects Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, EPR Partnership
Structural engineer Weidlinger Associates
Mechanical and electrical engineer Flack & Kurtz
Foundations engineer Arup
Project manager Olympia & York Contractors
Net area 27,400 m2

8 Canada Square

Architect Foster and Partners
Structural engineer Arup
Mechanical and electrical engineer Arup
Floors 42
Net area 102,200 m2
Build time 36 months

25-30 Canada Square

its tenants speed to work in the fastest lifts in europe

Architects Cesar Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates
Structural engineer Yolles Partnership
Mechanical engineers Mitchell Partnership, Donald Smith Seymour & Rooley
Electrical engineer HH Angus & Associates
Floors 42
Net area 111,900 m2
Build time 36 months

23 The North Colonnade

Architects Troughton McAslan, Adamson Associates
Structural engineer Arup
Mechanical and electrical engineer Flack & Kurtz
Project manager Olympia & York Contractors
Floors 15  
Net area 33,400 m2

Westferry Circus/West India Avenue

Architect and engineering consultant Skidmore Owings & Merrill

20 Canada Square

Architect Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural engineer Cantor Seinuk
Building services engineer Oscar Faber
Net area 50,600 m2

Canada Place Retail Mall

Architects Koetter Kim & Associates, Chapman Taylor
Structural engineer Arup
Mechanical and electrical engineer Arup

Jubilee Place Retail Mall

Architect Building Design Partnership
Structural and M&E engineer Arup

17 Columbus Courtyard

Architect Gensler
Structural engineers Cantor Seinuk, Matthews Consultants
Mechanical and electrical engineer Flack & Kurtz
Net area 18,600 m2

20 Columbus Courtyard

Architect Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural engineers Cantor Seinuk, Matthews Consultants
Mechanical and electrical engineer Hilson Moran Partnership
Net area 25,100 m2

11 Westferry Circus

Architects Koetter Kim Associates, Perkins & Will
Structural engineer Cantor Seinuk
Mechanical and electrical engineer Cosentini Associates
Net area 13,200 m2

Canary Wharf DLR station

Architects Cesar Pelli & Associates, ASFA, Adamson Associates, Frederick Gibberd Coombes & Partners, Design Research Unit
Structural and mechanical engineer MS Yolles & Partner
Project manager Olympia & York Contractors

33 Canada Square

Architect Foster and Partners
Structural engineer Arup
Mechanical and electrical engineer Roger Preston & Partners
Net area 52,300 m2

20 Cabot Square/10 The South Colonnade

Architects Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, EPR Partnership
Structural engineer Weidlinger Associates
Mechanical and electrical engineer Flack & Kurtz
Foundations engineer Arup
Net area 52,500 m2

7 Westferry Circus

Architect Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural engineer Cantor Seinuk
Mechanical and electrical engineer Cosentini Associates
Net area 14,700 m2

25 Bank Street

Partly built over Heron Quays DLR station, it is the most highly serviced building on the wharf and believed to be the most highly serviced building in the uk

Architects Cesar Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates
Structural engineer Yolles Partnership
Mechanical and electrical engineer Hilson Moran Partnership
Floors 30
Net area 97,500 m2
Build time 32 months

10 Upper Bank Street

Largest building in Europe to achieve an excellent score in the BREEAM rating for environmental design

Architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, Adamson Associates
Structural engineer Yolles Partnership
Mechanical and electrical engineer HH Angus & Associates
Floors 30
Net area 92,300 m2
Build time 27 months

One Churchill Place

Constructed at a faster rate than any other building at the wharf

Architect HOK International
Structural engineer Cantor Seinuk
Mechanical and electrical engineer HH Angus & Associates
Floors 33
Net area 92,900 m2
Build time 30 months – but CWC says it could have been built even faster

Churchill Place Retail

Architects Studio U+A, Adamson Associates
Structural engineer Cantor Seinuk
M&E engineer WSP South
Net area 21,200 m2

Canada Square Park

Architect Koetter Kim
Landscape architect Olin Partnership

40 Bank Street

Architects Cesar Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates
Structural engineer Arup
Mechanical and electrical engineer Hilson Moran Partnership
Floors 30
Net area 55,700 m2
Build time 27 months

Heron Quays DLR station and air-rights building

Architects Alsop Architects (station), Adamson Associates (building)
Structural engineers WS Atkins (station), Tony Gee & Partners plus Yolles & Partners (station)
Fire engineering Arup Fire (station)

50 Bank Street

Architects Cesar Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates
Structural engineer Arup
Mechanical and electrical engineer Hilson Moran Partnership
Floors 12
Net area 19,500 m2
Build time 23 months

20 Bank Street

Architect Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural engineer Arup
Mechanical and electrical engineer Hilson Moran Partnership
Floors 14
Net area 47,600 m2
Build time 26 months

5 Canada Square

Architect Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural engineer Cantor Seinuk
Building services engineer Hilson Moran Partnership
Net area 46,500 m2

one Cabot Square

The building has nine roofs because of its unusual footprint and varied height

Architects Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, DY Davies Associates
Structural engineers Weiskopf & Pickworth, Waterman Partnership
Mechanical and electrical engineer Jaros Baum & Bolles
Floors 18
Area 50,200 m2

16-19 Canada Square

Architects Zeidler Roberts & Partners, Chapman Taylor
Structural engineers Arup, Whitbybird
Mechanical and electrical engineer Arup
Net area 18,700 m2

East & West Winter Gardens

Architects Cesar Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates
Structural engineer Yolles Partnership
Mechanical and electrical engineer CDM Partnership

Infrastructure for phase one

Architect Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Landscape architect Hanna/Olin

15 Westferry Circus

Architects Terry Farrell & Partners, SOM
Structural engineer Yolles Partnership
Mechanical and electrical engineer Jaros Baum & Bolles
Net area 16,200 m2

Fit-out

Canary Wharf Contractors has fitted out more than 650,000 m2 of space during the past seven years. This includes: offices, trading floors, retail, staff restaurants, health clubs, swimming pools, executive suites, client meeting rooms, auditoria, broadcast and video conferencing studios, and office support facilities.

10 Cabot Square/5 The North Colonnade

Architect, structural and M&E engineer Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Foundations engineer Arup
Area 59,100 m2

Infrastructure

CWC has completed a vast array of infrastructure works, including the 250 MW electrical supply that feeds the wharf. Other tasks undertaken were the roads, three road bridges, two pedestrian bridges, marine piling and cofferdams.

Cabot Place

Architects Cesar Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates, Frederick Gibberd Coombes & Partners, Building Design Partnership
Structural engineers MS Yolles & Partners, Waterman Partnership
Mechanical engineers Mitchell Partnership, Donald Smith Seymour Rooley
Electrical engineer HH Angus & Associates
Area 9500 m2 of retail with 2200 m2 for conferences and exhibitions

WHARFpeople - Andrew Heath

Andrew Heath spent nine years working for trade contractors and another seven in construction management here and overseas before enlisting with CWC eight years ago.

He says working his way up, starting with an electrical apprenticeship, has given him a pretty good idea of how trade contractors operate, as well as an ability to talk to them in their own language.

“I remember someone in another company saying project managers need have no technical knowledge of what they do. Here it is the opposite: CWC goes for people with the expertise,” he says.

“Yes, we have meetings. Yes, we wear suits because we are dealing with clients. But when people talk to you, they realise you know what you are talking about.”

If CWC has a company mantra, it is that the work gets done out on site, not in an office. Heath concurs: “I’d rather be out there looking at what we’ve still got to do. I take it very personally that we meet the planned completion date.” So far, he hasn’t been disappointed.Heath reels off a few ideas that have aided installation of electrical services: building a bund in the plant rooms to prevent water ingress affecting the transformers and switchgear; installing waterproof, protective decks in the services core so the trade contractors can make an early start on fixing the risers that carry services up and down the buildings; and using flexible connections for the busbars at the base of the building rather than having to wait for special connections to be made, which can take up to a fortnight per connection. He adds: “Too often on construction projects, the bricks-and-sticks boys have one agenda while the services boys have another and never the twain shall meet. “We don’t let that happen at Canary Wharf. The whole team recognises that a lot less milk gets spilt when we all work together to decide when to install the prefab pipework, bring in equipment, build the blockwork, do the waterproofing, turn on the power.” There is another tactic that Heath adopts: getting to know, on first-name terms, the principals of all the firms involved.He remarks: “If there’s an issue, I know quite a few who will say: ‘Yes, I’ll get a crew in straightaway’. It shows the personal touch and I think that is what has made the projects progress so quickly and adds an element of pride for CWC managers and the trade contractors.”

WHARFpeople - Patrick Quinlan

“They asked me to come over here from Canada for two years,” says Patrick Quinlan. “That was 1990 and I’ve been here ever since.”

His speciality is cladding and he relishes the job. “I enjoy working with various architects and contractors. It’s challenging. Cladding is what everyone sees.”

It also has the longest lead-time of all the trade packages, which means more time spent upfront reaps benefits when manufacturing and installation start.That’s not a problem at Canary Wharf, says Quinlan. “The upfront portion of the job is what we do extremely well because we know what we want, how it’s going to be put together and we have a fair idea what it’s going to cost.”

He continues: “We give the architect as much freedom as possible, but there are certain things we want them to focus on sooner rather than later, in particular, buildability, transport issues and site logistics.”

The upfront design development process includes getting input from all CWC’s in-house engineering and construction experts as well as the consultants and specialists chosen for the project. A mock-up of part of the cladding is used to assess the aesthetics of different materials, finishes and glazing before a final decision is made.

Quinlan says care is also needed at critical interfaces. He cites the joint between the cladding and the perimeter spandrel beam as a prime case. “You need to understand the movement and tolerances of the structure.”

As the design is developed, the team tests the market to gauge the availability of cladding contractors, giving details of the timetable and the type of cladding likely to be used. “The devil is in the detail and we are detail-obsessive. This means if you can figure out the interfaces, the planning, the method of construction before the job starts, the smoother it will run. We spend long hours with the team and our trade contractors ironing out the wrinkles.”

He adds: “I love the tendering process because I learn more about the building than at any other stage.”

Canary Wharf supplement 2005