Move to build KPF-designed building comes a week after deal to redevelop London’s Shell Centre

Canary Wharf Group has agreed to build a 20-storey tower on its Docklands estate, in a move that will complete its 1980s masterplan for the area.

Construction of the 500,000ft² scheme, to be called 25 Churchill Place and designed by architect Kohn Pedersen Fox, will begin by the final quarter of the year.

The developer had already agreed to left half the building to the European Medicines Agency and predicts the scheme will create as many as 1,000 construction jobs.

The move comes just a week after the developer agreed on a joint venture with Qatari Diar to overhaul London’s Shell Centre, one of the largest redevelopment sites in the capital.

Canary Wharf has already begun construction of a 37-storey City scheme dubbed the ’Walkie Talkie’ as part of a joint venture with Land Securities.

In addition to 25 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf Group has planning consent in place to build a further five office buildings on the Canary Wharf Estate comprising 5.29m ft².

It will also develop Riverside South on behalf of J.P. Morgan (1.9mft²) and Wood Wharf, a 4.5m ft² joint venture development adjacent to Canary Wharf in which Canary Wharf Group has a 25% share.