Like the doomed canary of coalmine fame, London’s second financial district had fallen off its perch. In the tough post-pandemic recovery years of the early 2020s, the gleaming towers of Canary Wharf stood like abandoned steel and glass mausoleums as a succession of big-name occupiers announced they were to quit Docklands for the City.
First, in 2022, Magic Circle law firm Clifford Chance said the new era of hybrid working meant it did not need the acres of office space it leased for its increasingly working-from-home solicitors at the 10 Upper Bank Street skyscraper, and would move to smaller premises in the City.
