Canary Wharf Group plc is a British property company headquartered in London, England. It is the owner and developer of nearly of property at Canary Wharf and elsewhere in London. Over the last 10 years it has constructed more office space in London than any other developer. The group owns of property which is worth ã4.9 billion, of which 95.6% was let as of 30 June 2012.
The company was formed in 1993 as Canary Wharf Limited to acquire the former assets of Olympia and York from its administrator.
In December 1995, the company was acquired by an international consortium, including Olympia and York founder Paul Reichmann.
In April 1999, the company floated on the London Stock Exchange.
In 2004, a majority of the company was acquired by Glick Family Investments and Morgan Stanley using an investment vehicle company called Songbird Acquisitions, which was later taken over by China Investment Corporation.
In 2015, Brookfield Properties and Qatar Investment Authority took over Canary Wharf Group for ã2.6 billion. Songbird was delisted following the takeover.
The group owns Canary Wharf Contractors, a business which has built most of the buildings at Canary Wharf. The Canary Wharf Group has also launched Vertus, a build-to-rent arm with properties under development in Canary Wharf.
Several large transport projects have been constructed which link to Canary Wharf, including the Jubilee Line Extension, the Docklands Light Railway and Crossrail.
Canary Wharf is well connected by several TFL bus routes, including the D3, D7, and 135, which connect areas like Crossharbour, Poplar, Limehouse, and North Greenwich to Canary Wharf. The 277 bus also serves the Isle of Dogs and nearby areas, while the night buses N550 and N551 connect Canary Wharf to Clapham Junction and Oxford Circus, respectively.
The Canary Wharf Group agreed to pay ã500m over 24 years towards the ã3.5bn cost of the Jubilee Line extension. The payment was reduced by at least ã25m because the line was unable to run at the capacity agreed. Canary Wharf Group built the Canary Wharf railway station for Crossrail at a cost of around ã500m, contributing ã150m towards the station cost.
The links between Canary Wharf Group and Transport for London remain strong, with Canary Wharf's Finance Director Peter Anderson previously on the board of Transport for London and chairing its finance and policy committee.
The Canary Wharf Group has consistently campaigned against the now defunct Cycle Superhighway routes. In 2014, the Group opposed two cycle routes dubbed "Crossrail for bikes" by anonymously distributing a briefing paper claiming the project would be "extremely damaging to London". In 2018, Canary Wharf Group were a founding member of Unblock the Embankment, a campaign to remove a segregated cycle route along the Embankment.
Notable property addresses are:
Outside Canary Wharf itself, CWG also developed 20 Fenchurch Street and is redeveloping the Shell Centre site in central London.