Canary Wharf runs ‘at full speed’

Canary Wharf is an “engine running at full speed” as occupancy reaches heights not seen since the beginning of the financial crisis, Sir George Iacobescu, chief executive of Canary Wharf Group, said yesterday.

CWG’s 69 per cent majority shareholder Songbird Estates, which owns around half of the Docklands complex, said occupancy had hit 97 per cent following recent leasing deals to big tenants such as the accountancy group EY. The working population of 105,000 is expected to double with the arrival of Crossrail in 2018.

Sir George said: “Canary Wharf is like a V8 cylinder engine running at full speed.”

Songbird plans to develop a further 10 million sq ft including its first exclusively residential building. Pre-tax profits jumped fivefold to £1.04bn last year, with the buoyant market and letting of buildings under construction.