10 Park Drive & 8 Water Street, London E14

JRA was appointed as Executive Architect to deliver a design produced by Architects Stanton Williams on a new residential and mixed use waterside development in the first phase of the Canary Wharf, Wood Wharf development. The scheme spans 47,470m2. It includes 10 Park Drive, a residential tower of 43 storeys including a private residents club and sky terrace, and 8 Water Street, a residential block of 13 storeys including a resident’s roof terrace. Both buildings include 24-hour receptions and commercial units on the ground floors.

The two buildings, for Canary Wharf Group, will form part of the Woof Wharf scheme, which will be central London’s largest development site and extend over 20 acres. The masterplan comprises approximately 3,200 apartments and 18500m2 of office space in the first phase. It will provide over 3000 new homes, nearly 186,000m2 of high-quality commercial office space, and a further 23,000m2 of shops, restaurants, and community spaces.

10 Park Drive and 8 Water Street were built on reclaimed land, which was originally part of the dock. The area was dug and drained, a barrier introduced and then infilled with land to create the foundations for the two blocks.

JRA came to the project at stage three, working with the team to develop the concept designs and provide technical expertise. The team then worked on stage four, after Stanton Williams’ design work was complete, to provide and deliver all construction packages.

JRA was adaptable throughout the expansive project, working with Canary Wharf Group to adjust to the needs of the market over time and ensure the designs were viable.

JRA developed the original design and managed to shorten the programme whilst ensuring high-quality results.

JRA coordinated the project using BIM Level 2 and led clash detection workshops for the team model to help the project run smoothly, aiding accurate construction and saving time across the programme.

JRA also submitted all planning conditions with building control, coordinated the sub-contractors and oversaw benchmarking on-site.

JRA was integral in maintaining Stanton Williams’ original design intent through technical solutions. A key feature of the buildings are the sculptural façades comprised of glass, metal and glass fibre reinforced concrete. JRA intervened in the structural designs to ensure they had the requisite tolerances to hold the materials while aligning the joints to sustain the aesthetic.

The buildings feature multiple apartment types and variations, from studio to three bedrooms, which required JRA to provide careful space planning and fine detailing across individual typologies.

8 Water Street contains 174 apartments and was designed for rental tenure, with residential interiors by Stanton Williams and JRA, and communal areas and reception by Goddard Littlefair.

10 Park Drive houses 346 apartments and was designed for sale. The interior fit out was designed by MAKE with design detailing by JRA.

Both buildings offer residents’ lounges that include kitchens, beverage services and cinema rooms, and each have a landscaped roof terrace at the top podium levels, which provide stunning views across Canary Wharf.

There is an efficient energy centre at the top of 10 Park Drive, servicing the tower, 8 Water Street and the neighbouring One Park Drive. The shared facilities for the three buildings required extensive coordination to deliver and JRA redesigned the top of 10 Park Drive to accommodate them. Freeing up the top of 8 Water Street provided space for a brown roof as well as bird and bat boxes. Apartments comply with the Code for Sustainable Homes through measures on energy and water efficiency, materials, waste and pollution. The retail units at the base of 10 Park Drive achieved BREEAM Excellent.