Scheme will also include new promenade linking building to the Canary Wharf Elizabeth Line station
The top storeys of the HSBC tower in Canary Wharf could be turned into a hotel and leisure destination under plans being worked up by KPF.
Proposals for the 180-room hotel are among more details which have emerged of Canary Wharf Group’s proposed overhaul of the 45-storey building in a pre-planning technical document submitted to Tower Hamlets council last month.
The 45-page Environmental Impact Assessment Screening Opinion is the first publicly available planning material submitted to the council for the scheme since it was unveiled in July 2024.
It outlines previously announced plans to cut away sections of the tower’s facades to create a series of terraces at the ground, middle and upper levels and reclad the building with a high-performance facade system which meets modern thermal performance standards.
But the document also reveals that levels 36 to 40 could be transformed into a hotel with around 34 rooms on each floor, while levels 42 and 43 would become a leisure destination with food and drink uses.
Canary Wharf Group said it is seeking flexibility within any future planning permission from the council to allow the proposed hotel space to also be delivered as office workspace.
Around 3,800sq m of retail space is also proposed at ground floor and mezzanine levels, facing onto an improved public realm which would include a new promenade connecting the building to the Elizabeth Line station.
Meanwhile, existing plant levels located at the top of the building, which was originally designed by Foster + Partners and completed in 2003, would be moved to the basement to make way for the proposed leisure space.
Plans to cut back sections of the tower’s facade would reduce the total floorspace of the existing building by around 7,700sq m of floorspace, resulting in a total floor area of approximately 157,000sq m.
Existing floor plates would undergo significant reconfiguration to improve their efficiency and functionality, according to the document, and to enable a “more flexible and effective workspace while making best use of the existing building structure”.
Canary Wharf Group said it is currently working up a full planning application for the scheme with the project team also including transport consultant Momentum, townscape consultant Montagu Evans and environmental impact assessment consultant Trium.
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