Canary Wharf is now a significant feature of the London skyline. Along with the Gherkin, it shapes the view over London, but it is a feature that has a relatively short timeline. It has become one of London's two financial quarters (the other being inside the City of London), the home to international banking institutions and associated with high quality business locations, serviced offices and virtual offices, but until the early 80s it had its roots in maritime history.

Between the early 1800s and 1980, when it finally closed, Canary Wharf was the site of the old West India Docks, the inspiration of West Indies businessman Robert Milligan. The docks were built to safeguard the security and efficiency of shipments to London. Following more than a hundred years of prosperity the docks slowly started to decline. From the 1960s the West India Docks lost ground to more efficient maritime docking processes and were officially closed in 1980, leaving the government in control of the property.

Construction of the site began in 1988. One of the first two buildings completed in the first phase of the project in 1991 was One Canada Square, the flagship building of the site. Upon it's completion it became the UK's largest building at 770 feet, 235m, but it has since been surpassed by the Shard London Bridge, which is still under construction. With 50 floors of offices and a warning light on its roof to make sure that aircraft don't get too close, it's still got an imposing feel to it.

When the property market in the UK benefitted from an upturn in the mid to late 90s the demand for high quality serviced offices led to resurgence in the success of the Canary Wharf business district as a whole. This was spurred on even further by improvements to the transport links to Canary Wharf, in particular via the London Underground's Jubilee Line. This made it much easier for businesses to operate successfully from the site and generated a lot of positive press for the site.

Though Canary Wharf has a relatively short history it has seen significant growth with buildings shooting up with incredible pace. There are currently fourteen buildings in the district including the 484 foot Pan Peninsula made up of twin towers residential property, 1 West India Quay which is shared between the Marriott Hotel and upper floors of apartment buildings, and the serviced offices of 40 Bank Street.

There is also a development underway to add two new buildings to the skyline. Riverside South will be a dual tower development encompassing the two new buildings into one construction. The first tower will stand at 774 ft, 236 m, overtaking One Canada Square as the UK's second largest building and Canary Wharf's tallest. It is currently scheduled for completion in 2012.

In addition to the physical serviced offices, residential and shopping property at Canary Wharf, it's also possible to make Canary Wharf a business location without having the significant rental costs involved. Canary Wharf is the location of numerous virtual offices opportunities. Virtual offices allow organisations to utilise Canary Wharf as its postal address location, for call answering services and other virtual office solutions.