FEC reveals plans for £250m resi scheme in Canary Wharf

The Hong Kong-based developer bought Ensign House and an adjoining surface car park this week for £28.25m, and will demolish both to make way for the mixed-use development, it said. The new scheme will sit directly opposite FEC’s planned Consort Place, due for completion in 2023, which comprises 634 residential units and a 231-room hotel.

Ensign House, on the north side of Marsh Wall, is a five-minute walk from Canary Wharf station, one of the stations that will be served by the Elizabeth Line when it opens later this year.

The development is the latest in a string of planned residential schemes in the traditionally office-dominated South Quay area. Other planned projects include Chalegrove Properties’ Landmark Pinnacle, Eco World-Ballymore’s Wardian and Ballymore’s Millharbour.

The announcement comes weeks after Canary Wharf Group brought the first of its build-to-rent apartments to market at new development 10 George Street, with two more BTR buildings on the estate launching later this year.

John Connolly, FEC’s head of UK development, said the company would work with Tower Hamlets Council to “provide affordable homes to locals, transforming the surrounding area into a much-needed quality public realm and a highly desirable place to live”.

Other than Consort Place, the developer’s only other active London site is the restoration of Hornsey Town Hall in Crouch End. It is also developing Meadowside, part of Manchester’s Northern Gateway regeneration project.