Records tumble at Olympics site as industrial area is regenerated

Two years before the 2012 Olympic Games are held in East London, records are being broken there. These records are related to construction, not sport. Stratford City, the 73-hectare site hosting the Games, is the British capital's biggest development.

From next year, Stratford City will have Europe's largest shopping mall - the 2.9 million sqft Westfield Stratford City - and housing for 11,000 residents, offices for 30,000 people and the Olympic Park.

Half completed, the 39-hectare Canary Wharf estate is Britain's fastest-growing office market. Five thousand new homes are planned for neighbouring Royal Docks, where Excel, London's biggest exhibition space, is located.

These construction projects and new transport schemes will contribute to an eastward shift in London's economic centre of gravity, says Charlie Hart, head of Thames Gateway residential development at estate agency Knight Frank. The latest transport scheme, the East London Line extension linking Hackney with Croydon, opens next month.

Hart says Canary Wharf and neighbouring developments, such as Pan Peninsula, are establishing themselves as prime residential areas.

'The more residential towers go up in the area [Canary Wharf], the more it becomes apparent that it is an appealing place to live,' he says.