More than 500 work-place accidents have been recorded at Canary Wharf in just 12 months.
But the 523 incidents in 2017 were 20 per cent fewer than the 650 in 2016, according to a sustainability report this week.
The reduction concerns all incidents throughout the business and shopping estate over the past two years.
But Canary Wharf Group has also achieved two-million hours worked without lost accident time on its massive Wood Wharf construction, for the first time ever. It has gone on to achieve three-million working hours in the first five months of 2018 without a ‘time loss’ accident.
Safety, health and a sustainable environment are the big elements in the group’s latest report in what is aimed to create the ‘city of the future’.
“We use healthy building materials which minimise volatile organic compounds that affect air quality,” the report states. “Dust suppression is used during construction and road trips are minimised.”
Canary Wharf Construction was the first site to support a clean air campaign last June to encourage delivery lorry drivers to turn off idling engines. Volunteers from Canary Wharf and Tower Hamlets Council approached drivers about environmental and health impacts of engine emissions.
The energy source of Europe’s largest financial ‘powerhouse’ has also been 100pc renewable since 2012, coupled with an 11pc consumption reduction since 2016.
The new development zone on the site of the old Millwall Docks that closed down in the 1970s now includes four urban parks, 20 acres of gardens, squares, fountains and open spaces. The former docks are home to aquatic birds, freshwater and saltwater fish and even seals.
But Canary Wharf has also been a boost for east London’s economy in its first 30 years, generating £1.59 billion in trade for small and medium companies, with another £17.5 million spent on community projects since 2009.
Canary Wharf Group chairman Sir George Iacobescu said: “It is one of the great business districts of the world, with sustainability being our challenge for the next 30 years. This is a city of the future for urban living in an uncertain world that faces economic, environmental, social and political challenges.”
Sir George’s group has become a platform for innovation, with its Level39 ‘acceleration’ centre now Europe’s leading hub pushing boundaries of finance, cyber-security, retail and future-city technology.
Sustainable everyday recycling is also a major element in the way Canary Wharf now operates, such as tackling 450,000 discarded coffee cups and 95 tonnes of coffee grounds last year alone.
Disposable cups contain polyethylene which makes them difficult to recycle. Sir George’s report sets a goal to recycle 85pc of all waste from retail sales, having come close in 2016—something to think about over a coffee.
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