Canary Wharf has a long history of supporting businesses to grow and achieve success. However, the Estate’s development over the past 30 years has supercharged that ability across different sectors and business sizes, including those going from start-up to scale-up as well as large, established organisations. In this article we look at what makes Canary Wharf’s office spaces perfect for growing businesses.

Why Choose Canary Wharf for your business?

A thriving ecosystem of opportunities, we have created both office space for small business and an infrastructure that fosters growth and innovation in young companies looking to scale up.

By bringing educational facilities with the next generation of new ideas, organisations of different sizes, and people of different interests, skills and experience levels together, we have nurtured a destination akin to one of commercial biodiversity. As a result, it’s perfect for putting down roots and has the right amount of space to ensure the sky’s the limit.

Furthermore, Canary Wharf is brimming with networking and socialising opportunities, leisure activities, facilities and exemplary transport links providing easy access across London, the UK and overseas. All these elements make the estate a deeply attractive destination for top talent and clients – easy to get to and to integrate with, it’s a destination where individuals can build their careers whilst enjoying life to the full.

Location and connectivity

Canary Wharf’s location is one of the reasons it first became a hub of industry all the way back in the 1800s when it was one of the busiest docks in the world. Its strategic position has only become more pronounced over the years. While it might not be busy receiving cargo ships these days, instead it’s a hub of industry with transport making it ultra convenient for employees, employers and visiting clients.

Whether you’re commuting for work, going travelling for meetings and entertainment across London, heading for a weekend in the countryside or jetting off around the world, Canary Wharf is not only well connected, but connected by the best transport links in the city.

The London Underground and DLR

Canary Wharf’s Tube lines include the Elizabeth line and Jubilee Line, while the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) also runs through the Estate. 

The Jubilee line has interchanges with all other London Underground lines and connects with almost all mainline railways. Key London locations are accessible in minutes – for example, it takes seven minutes to get to London Bridge and 13 minutes to get to Westminster.

Meanwhile, the Elizabeth Line connects you to Whitechapel in three minutes or Liverpool Street in six minutes. Then there’s the DLR, which runs from Canary Wharf, Heron Quays, West India Quay and South Quay across London. 

Travelling by boat 

For those seeking a unique experience, access to the water is a unique part of Canary Wharf’s appeal. Take the Thames Clipper Boat to any one of 24 piers along the Thames between Barking Riverside Pier and Putney Pier to socialise or travel to work.

Cars and parking 

When it comes to driving, Canary Wharf has 6,000 car parking spaces available – 2,500 within four public car parks, three of which lead directly into Cabot, Canada and Jubilee Place shopping malls. There is also electric vehicle charging in Canada Square Car Park, including 12 dedicated superchargers for Tesla vehicles and 14 charging points for BP Pulse members.

Walking and cycling 

For those travelling a little more dynamically, there are electric scooters (e-scooters) available to rent at 19 locations on the estate.

Canary Wharf is also highly walkable and it’s a pleasure to explore on foot. It’s just a few minutes’ from the Thames Path, with a footbridge from the West Wintergarden to South Quay, while Upper Bank Street Bridge provides a route to Poplar DLR Station.

For cyclists, there are several cycle routes signposted, as well as 1,300 free cycle parking spaces available across the Estate, 405 secure (chargeable) cycle parking spaces and 3,715 private cycle parking spaces within individual building car parks.

Airports

For those travelling in or out of the UK, airports are easily accessible from Canary Wharf. The Jubilee Line offers a direct service from Canary Wharf to London City Airport in 11-minutes via Canning Town, while the Elizabeth Line will take you to Heathrow in 45-minutes.

A vibrant community

Perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of Canary Wharf is that it’s a vibrant community of professionals who are energetic, enthusiastic and passionate about what they do. Bringing different but complementary skills, experiences, ideas and perspectives together, it’s a unique opportunity to make things happen for individuals, businesses and the wider world around us.

Leisure 

We have harnessed all that power with a variety of networking opportunities, in addition to more than 100 social and leisure events across the estate throughout the year. For example, there are more than 300 retailers spread across five malls, more than 70 restaurants, bars and cafés and 20 acres of landscaped parks, gardens and verdant squares to explore, complete with waterside boardwalks and abundant wildlife.

Volunteering

There are even volunteering opportunities made easy. For example if you sign up to our Green Scheme, you can support The Felix Project to tackle hunger and food waste in London by offering as little as 30 minutes of your time. Volunteers help collect and deliver surplus food from the estate’s cafes, restaurants and office canteens. This year we’ve already saved 6,928kg of good quality food (16,556 meals).

Networking

Those who work on the Wharf are invited to be part of a connected culture underpinned by networking events, exclusive invitations, offers and promotions. Our networking events cater to a variety of interests, age groups and outcomes. For example, our series of Wharf Talks is where you can hear academics, influencers and entrepreneurs discuss their specialist areas of interest. Then there’s our Out of Office Society – a series of free events that will help you make the most of your time on the Wharf by opening your eyes to what’s available. Our Wharf Connect leadership events and workshops are also extremely popular. They help individuals to develop skills, broaden their horizons and meet new people, hearing first-hand experiences from successful networkers across the Estate.

Download the Canary Wharf app to find out more

https://canarywharf.com/download-the-app/

Office spaces tailored for growth

Scale-ups, start-ups and established global enterprises all coexist in Canary Wharf. Part of the reason for that is that our spaces not only facilitate their individual growth but that place them alongside complementary organisations enabling serendipitous meetings and easy communications to foster new ideas, funding and opportunities.

Crucially, businesses here are safe in the knowledge that they have the space to develop without being inhibited by the size of their office or the amenities available. Canary Wharf offers a variety of office types, but what makes it perfect for growing companies looking for office space are the terms and lease options on which you can occupy, and even design, your space. The thought that’s gone into that variety is integral to creating an environment in which businesses are supported as they grow from small office space for rent to entire buildings.

You might prefer to choose our Cat A office spaces, which give you a blank canvas, or Cat B options, which include fitting spaces out to your specifications. You may also opt for our fully managed office space under our MadeFor: product.

You might initially choose hot desking, shared office spaces, co-working offices or our short-term flexible office lease for up to 12 months within our Level39 incubator space (two floors of small business office space for rent for 20 to 50 people in the fintech sector).  Then you can matriculate to MadeFor: when you scale up. Then you can enjoy the convenience of a fully managed office space coupled with longer lease terms across a whole floor or part of one. When you reach a critical mass that requires up to 100,000 square feet, you might start occupying multiple floors in one of our buildings. That was the journey taken by Revolut, which has expanded within Canary Wharf since it was founded in 2015 on Level39.

We even have game changing lab spaces available, dedicated to incubating life sciences innovators at our North Quay development, offering world-leading facilities space and capabilities to grow.

As we have an in-house team that manages all the different aspects of custom office design and renting (finding a space, fitting it out, managing facilities), we’re able to offer the smoothest process, and a partnership approach to plan not only what you need now but your trajectory as your business develops. That means you will always have the right amount of space and necessary facilities when your business is based in Canary Wharf.

Get an office space in Canary Wharf

The reason that Canary Wharf provides such a positive and powerful launchpad for growing businesses is because of the combination of office options, scalable space and facilities, community infrastructure and available services and amenities for staff and organisations.

 Bringing all these different elements together means you have all the practical support that your business needs to grow, as well as the inspiration and opportunity to access the infinite benefits of making connections with those close by.

This is a place where you have every opportunity you need for your business to thrive. There are no logistical barriers to development, so you can get on with pursuing your goals without inhibition.

Find out more about our scale-up office spaces

https://offices.canarywharf.com/workspaces/