Plans for another residential skyscraper adding 600 more flats to the already-densely populated Canary Wharf district have been sent to Tower Hamlets Council for planning permission.
The 62-storey tower would be among the tallest in the country, a 700ft high structure on the Millwall Dock quayside at Marsh Wall.
It would be the fourth highest in Docklands after the iconic One Canada Square office block, the new Landmark Pinnacle residential tower and the near-completed Newfoundland development, all just a few feet higher.
The £250 million scheme by Maccreanor Lavington developers would replace the six-storey Ensign House built in 1987 after its backers, Far East Consortium in Hong Kong, bought the site in February for £28m, Architects Journal reports.
The tower is among a new wave of high-rise housing developments at South Quay which have been a long-term issue with the Isle of Dogs Planning Forum that fears over-development.
The main concern was always that hugely dense residential schemes were approved in the past without any strategy to upgrade public services first, to support them—such as roads, public transport, schools, surgeries, mains supplies and sewers.
The forum supports new housing and Isle of Dogs redevelopment, provided sufficient infrastructure is put in place before the first new residents move in.
Rules have since changed with the local authority having introduced a planning levy in February to offset the impact of major developments on neighbourhoods, in addition to the surcharge developers pay anyway towards public services.
Tower Hamlets nowadays has a policy of refusing massive developments without infrastructure funding.
It had refused the controversial Westferry scheme on the Millwall waterfront—but that just escaped the new levy in time and the council found itself overruled by the secretary of state which led to a row in the Commons earlier this year.
A public referendum is due on the Isle of Dogs next May on its Neighbourhood Plan put forward by the Planning Forum which would put a check on all future Isle of Dogs developments without cash up front for public services to cope with the population increase.
Meanwhile, construction is nearly complete on the two-tower Wardian complex close by which has been built for Eco World-Ballymore.
Another developer, Galliard’s, has launched its massive Millharbour Village revised scheme this year which had previously been refused because of the lack of adequate supporting infrastructure.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here