St Katharines Dock Gets New Proposal

Plans have been announced to build a new residential tower and a series of lower rise blocks on the much in-demand area around St Katharine's Dock to the immediate east of the City of London and Tower of London in Wapping.

St Katharine’s was the original site of regeneration in Docklands with Thistle Tower Hotel, an infamously brutal building, kicking it off in the mid 70s just as the area was reaching fatal decline. Many of the warehouses were restored throughout the 80s and have since helped the area become much in demand thanks to the mixture of antique fittings they contain and the close proximity to the city.

Now developer Reit Asset Management plan to cash in on the demand further with the 17 floor St Katharine's Point plus hundreds of new apartments and ground level retail units.

Thanks to the proximity of the Tower of London world heritage site and Tower Bridge any development here is bound to be controversial although apart from the Thistle Hotel there are already a number of tall buildings in the area including the nearby office Trinity Tower and a planned development by News International plus the recently complete K2 scheme.

The signature residential tower, St Katharine's Point is cylindrical reducing the profile of it standing on a site directly between the Thistle Hotel and the corner of the Dock. The brown cladding has been designed to help it fit in with the industrial brick surroundings as much as possible whilst the height should barely prick the skyline more than its nearby tall neighbours.

At ground level care has been taken to open the dock up and provide public space, the problem of the development reducing the public realm is solved by cantilevering it above the central core Tower 42 style.

When it comes to the overall impact it also has the advantage of having the bulky Thistle Hotel sandwiched between it and Tower Bridge providing a visual border that will help lessen and potential encroachment.

Although any tall building on this location is bound to offend some people it shouldn’t excite the same outrage as Berkley Homes succeeded in doing directly over the River Thames, whether the local borough, Tower Hamlets agree is another matter and not the most clear cut given the amount of time News International has spent trying to get their scheme through the planning process.