City of London Corporation to regenerate the waterfront around Custom House
The City of London Corporation is drawing up a master plan for redevelopment of Custom House and the buildings surrounding it in a bid to rejuvenate the City’s waterfront.
Custom House was formerly used for the collection of tariffs on goods, and was rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666 based on designs drawn up by Christopher Wren.
The redevelopment of the area is expected to involve the creation of new public spaces at the City’s boundary, close to the Tower of London.
Read more: Australian bank Macquarie has sold its final stake in Thames Water
The master plan will be building on an ambitious pipeline of cultural and development works that the City of London is embarking upon over the next five years.
There will be building works around the current Museum of London, which is being replaced by a £278m concert hall for the London Symphony Orchestra.
The City of London Corporation is providing £2.5m in funding to study the business case for the project, but currently hopes to build new offices and hotels in the vicinity of the new classical music venue.
Meanwhile, the Museum of London will be moving from the Barbican complex into the disused buildings of Smithfield Market, a redevelopment which is costing £250m.