Sean Spurr
Cubitt Property Holdings has lodged plans for a 49-storey tower at 225 Marsh Wall on the Isle of Dogs, just south of Canary Wharf. The tower will contain 336 apartments, as well as community space and a small retail or restaurant unit.
The site was previously in the planning system with a slightly taller tower, however, it became clear this wasn’t going to pass through the planning process and the applicant withdrew the application before the final decision was made.
The new tower is around 23 metres shorter than the previous proposal and loses 90 apartments from the overall numbers. The design has also changed, with the previous staggered appearance white cladding and dark-glass replaced by a shouldered, almost robot like shape with a deep-green and white cladding, with copper highlights.
While the design has changed, the architects behind it have not – Make have been retained for the new tower but rather than simply submitting a shortened version of their previous design, have gone back to the drawing board.
The reduction in height should help this application get through the planning system where the other application failed, given it now steps down between its neighbour to the West – which has recently started construction – and Dollar Bay to the North-East, which has now topped out.
The proposal is for 272 market units, 147 of these will be one-bed flats, 112 two bedders and just eleven will be three-bed apartments. 40 of the units will be for social rent, with half of these having three or more bedrooms, and the final 24 will be for intermediate tenure – which might indicate shared ownership or intermediate rent.
The scheme replaces a low-rise office block, from the era when Canary Wharf and the surrounding docklands were just getting started as a business district. These offices are now gradually making way for new residential towers.
