Development in Focus: Manhattan Loft Gardens
Spring 2014

Manhattan Loft Gardens is a new development by Manhattan Loft Corporation in Stratford. “A previously rundown part of east London is taking on the banking heartlands of the City and Canary Wharf in a move that could see the emergence of London’s third financial business centre,” according to the Financial Times.

Manhattan Loft Gardens

Almost £9 billion worth of private investment is being spent to regenerate the area along with the billions of public sector, foundation, charity, and partnership funding invested in transport infrastructure, public realm, retail offering, as well as sports, educational, and cultural facilities. The area is also surrounded by parkland and open spaces.

Westfield Stratford City is Europe’s largest urban shopping centre, while the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has just signed a 20 year lease for a building adjacent to Manhattan Loft Gardens, relocating their 430,000 sq ft offices from the Canary Wharf financial district to Stratford City in 2018. Finally, the formerly Olympic Media Centre, newly named ‘Here East’, has already let 50,000 sq ft to BT Sport and 40,000 sq ft to the University of Loughborough.

Manhattan Loft Gardens has an extraordinary architecture conceived for a new way of living. It comprises a double-cantilevered tower with expansive living space, three sky gardens, and a design hotel.

The architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) have created some of the most important architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries. SOM’s history, spanning 75 years and over 10,000 commissions in 50 countries, makes it one of the pre-eminent architecture and engineering practices in the world. In particular, SOM is a leader in conceiving and deploying new technologies that deliver improvements in quality of living and the built environment. Hence Manhattan Loft Gardens has been designed to have a responsible impact on the environment and its surroundings.

The building is comprised of 248 apartments, ranging from studios to three bedroom loft apartments. Prices start at £400,000, with completion estimated for late 2017.

The area is very well connected to public transport with the jubilee line going to Stratford Station. Stratford International Station is connected to the DLR and high speed trains to King’s Cross St Pancras, with a journey time of only six minutes. Crossrail will arrive in 2018, providing connectivity across London (including a direct line from Heathrow airport, with an estimated journey time of 42 minutes to Manhattan Loft Gardens).

• Manhattan Loft Gardens will be launched to the general public in September 2014.
• Financial Times, FCA confirms it will move HQ to Olympic Park, by Kate Allen and Daniel Schäfer, 2 April 2014;
• Manhattan Loft Gardens.co.uk.