Songbird22 Jul 2014 08:18
Songbird Estates plc (the "Company" and "Songbird")
Ordinary Shares of 10 pence each ("Ordinary Shares")
ISIN code GB00B4MTF637
For immediate release
22 July 2014
Set out below is a release issued today by Canary Wharf Group plc ("CWG"), which is the main operating subsidiary of Songbird. This release will accordingly be of interest to shareholders in Songbird.
Planning permission granted at Canary Wharf
CWG is delighted with today's decision by Tower Hamlets council to grant planning permission for a net 4.9m sq ft (6.5m sq ft gross) mixed use development at Wood Wharf. Wood Wharf is the eastern continuation to the existing Canary Wharf district. The scheme will materially expand Canary Wharf by the addition of 30 new buildings and extend its appeal as a mixed use working and living urban district. Completion of the first phase of this development will coincide with the arrival in 2018 of Crossrail, which will transform transport links across London.
The new Canary Wharf neighbourhood will provide a net 2.6m sq ft (3.4m sq ft gross) of residential, including 3,100 new homes, ranging from park-side townhouses to outstanding high-rise buildings designed by some of the world's most renowned architects. The neighbourhood will include a mix of private, intermediate and social housing as well as provide a network of high-quality parks and public squares with around 9 acres of interconnected public spaces, including a kilometre of dock-edge walkways.
This new district will include a variety of commercial offices totalling a net 1.9m sq ft (2.6 sq ft gross), appealing to a wide range of tenants, but with a focus on the creative media, technology and telecommunications sector.
It also includes a new 420 place primary school, a NHS medical centre, a Community Centre, a hotel and more than 100 new high street shops, restaurants and cafes totalling net 0.40m sq ft (0.50m sq. ft. gross).
Sir George Iacobescu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canary Wharf Group plc, said:"We are very pleased to have worked in collaboration with Tower Hamlets and the local community in helping to achieve this important planning permission. This major eastern development of Canary Wharf will reinforce the district as one of London's most vibrant and dynamic mixed-use commercial and residential districts. It will combine new high quality offices aimed at the fast emerging TMT (Technology, Media and Telecommunications) sector; a wide variety of high street shops and restaurants, and a range of new housing opportunities designed around generous newly created public spaces. We expect to be on site in the fourth quarter of 2014, with the first buildings to be occupied as early as the end of 2018."
The development is expected to create over 17,000 new jobs within the new development alone, with 3,500 of these taken by local residents. It will also continue to p