Canary Wharf

They did all this other stuff.

And so we were bouncing back and forth between Birmingham and then Canary Wharf.

But the thing that made sense to us is we said, look, we know an agency produces stuff and we're going to just figure out what its products are for each of its clients and then try to figure out why do they have 52 creatives, 75 account people and 40 production people.

We were trying to explain what was the relationship between the work they were doing and the people, because that would be a normal thing that you would do in a factory.

So it's sort of, it feels like a huge opportunity.

And I, you know, I think that's I remember my year out, I worked on Canary Wharf way back in the day when Olympia and York were running

it.

And the LDDC was in control of that development.

And I remember it was a bit of a wake up actually for me because I do remember a conversation around a bridge that would bridge from Canary Wharf to South Quay, which was outside the ownership of Olympia and York.

And Olympia and York were very, very reluctant to build that bridge.

and um lldc wanted them to do it but and but that was kind of in the days when it was considered well we we want to hold on to all of the value we don't want the value to seep out of our investment we want to hold it and you know we've learned we've learned a lot since then i can't even if if they existed now they'd never think like that now because i think we now know that cities are they're agglomerations you know you need to connect outwards

And I think it's a really interesting question, Mark, about the mix of development in the central London zones.

Perhaps you could clarify which ones are defined because you've obviously got West End, Canary Wharf, you've got the city, and what does that mean? Are we going to have more mixed-use schemes, more office schemes? Where does it work? I think

so, yeah.

I mean, historically, the CAS, the Central Activity Zone, is kind of encompassed.

It's a strange line.

It's not really a particular shape, but broadly circular across the centre of London.

And it also covers Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs.

The main reason for the CAS, I think, is to focus on the economic output of the city and the nation as a whole.

So my first five, six years in scaffolding was all in London.

So I had Baker Street, jobs like that, Canary Wharf.

and it just opened my eyes to this big like industry of what you can achieve and obviously talking to other people you're working with and what they've achieved and like our boss was very much trying to put a lot of responsibility to us from a young age so he put us for our tickets but then he was teaching us because he started the business quite new himself of what actually went into a business and he kind of made us buy into that ethos as well of like was leaving at half four in the morning getting home at six at night but that was normal like you put the work in you'll reap the rewards and you always promise to look after us and there'll be a job for you to do this you can be a manager you can do this and it kind of just grew from there

okay

And that's on Charlotte Street.

And I'm just about to, open my solo clinic in Canary Wharf.

Amazing.

Alongside that, we'll also be starting up a grills line.

happening.

Yeah, so the next thing for me is...

I'm starting the clinic in Canary Wharf next month.

Congratulations.

called Virtue.

They have four buildings in Canary Wharf, stunning properties with 700 flats each.

And they have this kind of, how do they call it, like a hospitality floor with co-working space, barbecue, private room, kitchen.

And we were offering our services like with private chef and so on.

What do you think about free people?

Do you know, I keep meaning to say to you, because they've closed on Canary Wharf, haven't they? They were on Canary Wharf.

Yeah, I think so.

And they've moved their shop and I don't know where they've moved it to.