8 Canada Square

8 Canada Square is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. The building serves as the global headquarters of the HSBC Group. Sir Norman Foster’s team of architects designed the tower, which was built between January 1999 and 2002 by Canary Wharf Contractors. Upon completion, it stood at 200 meters high, or 656 feet. The 42 above-ground floors housed around 8, 000 HSBC staff members. Their first day of work in the new building was 2 September 2002, and the grand opening followed on 2 April 2003. ProposalWith the movement of HSBC Group's headquarters from Hong Kong to London in 1993, the firm decided that having thousands of employees scattered across the City of London was not an ideal situation. Between 1995 and 1997 a number of proposals were considered, including the redevelopment of the previous Group Head Office at 10 Lower Thames Street, London. However the DS-2 plot at Canary Wharf was chosen for the location and space available. Having been commissioned by the owners of the Canary Wharf Site to do the outline design prior to gaining site-wide outline planning permission, and because he had designed HSBC's last head office at 1 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, Sir Norman Foster (now Lord Foster of Thames Bank) was appointed as architect. Arup became structural engineers for the project, and Davis Langdon & Everest (now Davis Langdon) quantity surveyors.

8 Canada Square is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. The building serves as the global headquarters of the HSBC Group. Sir Norman Foster’s team of architects designed the tower, which was built between January 1999 and 2002 by Canary Wharf Contractors. Upon completion, it stood at 200 meters high, or 656 feet. The 42 above-ground floors housed around 8, 000 HSBC staff members. Their first day of work in the new building was 2 September 2002, and the grand opening followed on 2 April 2003. ProposalWith the movement of HSBC Group's headquarters from Hong Kong to London in 1993, the firm decided that having thousands of employees scattered across the City of London was not an ideal situation. Between 1995 and 1997 a number of proposals were considered, including the redevelopment of the previous Group Head Office at 10 Lower Thames Street, London. However the DS-2 plot at Canary Wharf was chosen for the location and space available. Having been commissioned by the owners of the Canary Wharf Site to do the outline design prior to gaining site-wide outline planning permission, and because he had designed HSBC's last head office at 1 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, Sir Norman Foster (now Lord Foster of Thames Bank) was appointed as architect. Arup became structural engineers for the project, and Davis Langdon & Everest (now Davis Langdon) quantity surveyors.