On the site of the former West India Docks is Britain’s tallest building Canary Wharf. Completed in 1991, one Canada Square stands eight hundred feet high and has more than fifty floors.

The Wharf covers a surface are of more than 400,000 square meters- making it not only the tallest but one of the largest building in Britain. The Wharf was designed by architects Cesar Pelli and Associates and Adamson Associate Architects Ltd. The initial cost to developers Olympia and York was more than eight hundred million pounds sterling. Canary Wharf is used as a commercial office building for many, many businesses. This Steel constructed building casts a dominating figure on the Thames waterfront and is considered with approval but most Londoners. Canary Wharf is named after the Canary Islands- the prime source of imports received during its time as a working dock.

There are more than 55,000 people who work in the building itself. Situated within the Canary Wharf development are offices, a retail centre, a Dockland light Railway station and a London underground station.

Sadly the Canary Wharf building is not open to the public- but views of the breathtaking construction can be seen from all over London and are especially spectacular from one of the Thames river rides.