Canary Wharf Group to carve chunks out of HSBC tower after bank leaves | Commercial property

Canary Wharf Group has unveiled plans to remove large chunks from the HSBC tower as part of a revamp of the 42-storey office block when the bank moves out in 2027.

The property company said it would carve out sections of the tower’s facade to create terraces as part of plans to transform the office block – a skyscraper in the east London financial district – into a mixed-use building that would include leisure facilities and a public viewing gallery.

Canary Wharf Group (CWG), which manages the building on behalf of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), said it would be the largest-ever conversion of an office tower into a mixed-use building. The revamp, which has been proposed by the US architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, is expected to be finished by about 2030.

QIA acquired the property from the National Pension Service of South Korea in 2014 for £1.1bn.

The building, known officially as 8 Canada Square, was completed in 2002 and has been the headquarters of HSBC ever since. However, last year the bank announced plans to relocate before its existing lease expired in early 2027.

CWG said the tower would continue to include some office space, as well leisure, entertainment and cultural attractions.

Designers will carve out new terraces by making some floors smaller, and the building will be divided into defined sections to make it easier to lease.

Elie Gamburg, a design principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox, said: “We are extremely excited to collaborate with QIA and CWG to reimagine the single-use office building as a blueprint for the highly sustainable, mixed-use building of the future.”

Shobi Khan, the chief executive of CWG said: “This redevelopment is another step in Canary Wharf’s evolution into a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood offering workspace, retail, homes, leisure and amenities all in one location – a true 15-minute city.”

The office property market has taken a hit since Covid-19 as more people work from home and a number of businesses try to reduce the amount of office space they own.

Figures from the second quarter of 2023 showed that office occupation at Canary Wharf had fallen to just under 85%, well below the pre-2020 level which was consistently higher than 90%.

HSBC said it would move from Canary Wharf to a smaller head office near St Paul’s Cathedral as part of a decision to reduce its office space by 40%.

However, there has been a boost to non-professional visitors heading to Canary Wharf, with a record 67 million people going there last year, a quarter more than the previous year.

The FT reported that the conversion could cost between £400m and £800m but the company said those figures had not been precisely budgeted because the design had yet to be finalised.