Bank staff rolled their sleeves up to help tidy up a slice of London’s old docks with a fresh lick of paint and even making nesting platforms to entice wildlife back along the Thames.

East London Advertiser: Canary Wharf volunteers helping improve Wapping's Tobacco Dock [photos: Carmen Valino]Canary Wharf volunteers helping improve Wapping's Tobacco Dock [photos: Carmen Valino] (Image: Carmen Valino)

The first phase of the ‘Wapping Ornamental Canal’ project had 100 volunteers from Citibank in Canary Wharf who dropped by to help improve the environment around Wapping’s much-neglected Tobacco Dock.

They cleared litter, painted railings and made the nesting platforms, bird boxes and bat boxes ready for an influx of “new migrants” to the area.

The improvements are being made by Tower Hamlets council along the waterfront district just downriver from Tower Bridge to improve life in the crowded, urban neighbourhood.

East London Advertiser: Canary Wharf volunteers helping improve Wapping's Tobacco Dock [photos: Carmen Valino]Canary Wharf volunteers helping improve Wapping's Tobacco Dock [photos: Carmen Valino] (Image: Carmen Valino)

The next phase includes bedding in wetland plants, following a long period of consultation the Town Hall has had with families living in the district.