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Liberty Building — Canary Wharf
The Liberty Building
26-storeys, Limeharbour E14
The Liberty building — previously known as Heritage Tower — is a 26-storey brick-built building located on the Isle of Dogs.
Built by developer Telford Homes, the Liberty building is an 83 m tall mid-rise, offering luxurious apartments a 15-minute walk from the Canary Wharf estate.
The building comprises 155 apartments, ranging from one to three-bedroom apartments. 51 units were designated as affordable homes, helping to contribute to Tower Hamlets record of completing the highest number of affordable housing units of any London Borough.
The Liberty Building‘s E14 location
The Liberty Building
7 Limeharbour, London,
E14 9NQ
While this Telford Homes development is slightly further from the Canary Wharf estate than many developments reviewed here, it is still very well-placed for connections into London and easy access to Canary Wharf.
Located in Limeharbour, the Liberty Building boarders a more residential area of the Isle of Dogs, with virtually no high-rise construction to the east of the development.
Known as the Liberty Building by the developer, Limeharbour is notable for having four vertical elements creating a small cluster. These run with the area’s urban grain: taller on the western side facing Canary Wharf, lower on the east where it abuts a lower-rise residential zone: the aim being to create a transition between these areas.
Development architects — TP Bennett
The Liberty Building is excellently placed for DLR connections, around 10 meters away from the entrance to Crossharbour DLR station opposite. Connections to Herons Quay DLR — the closest to Canary Wharf’s tube station — are around 4 minutes.
With the arrival of Crossrail expected in 2022, the DLR can be taken to Canary Wharf in 4 minutes with the total journey to crossrail place around 10-15 minutes.
On foot the Liberty Building is around 15-20 minutes to Canary Wharf tube station.
Design and construction
Unusually for the area, this tower is brick-built and this exterior was chosen by the architect to tie the modern building in with the brick built residential areas of the isle of dogs, and the brick warehouses that line the edges of the peninsula.
Designed by architect firm TP Bennett, the building consists of four staggered towers, ranging between 6-storeys and 26-storeys tall.
Roughly a quarter of the budget for the Liberty Building was devoted to modern methods of construction and sustainable techniques, ensuring that this building provides a 40% reduction in co2 in comparison to older buildings.
Intrinsic to the building design was the sites’ existing urban and historic context, and the use of brick responds to both the 19th century warehouses and the traditional housing in the surrounding area, and further develops the modern aesthetic developing locally
TP Bennet — Architect Projects
Unlike the older brick-built warehouses and residential units that the building’s exterior is designed to mimic, the design provides expansive glazing and integral balconies. The result is modern and spacious apartments with lots of natural light.
Construction began in early 2016, with the build taking just under 4 years, completing in summer 2019. A popular development, all 104 apartments for sale on the open market were sold before completion.
Amenities
The Liberty Building strikes a good balance between affordability and residents amenities.
It doesn’t have the swimming pools and sky gardens of larger Canary Wharf developments like Ballymore’s Wardian London, or the Canary Wharf Group’s 10 Park Drive. However, as a result, the Liberty Building is under half of the service charge cost, at closer to £3 per square foot than £7 of those larger developments.
It also manages to retain a 24-hour concierge and a decent sized resident gym on the ground floor.
- 24hr Concierge service
- Private residents’ gymnasium
- Secured bicycle storage
- Small gated residents garden at the rear of the property.
Liberty Building benefits
Large balconies and panoramic views east
With the Liberty Building on the edge of the built-up central Isle of Dogs area, it stands as the last tall building between here and the eastern edge of the Peninsula. As a result, the building offers sweeping views towards the o2 Arena and North Greenwich to the northeast. To the southeast there are again unobstructed views across Greenwich and the Royal Observatory.
The developers have taken advantage of the views by providing large balconies or roof terraces to every single apartment.
This outside balcony space is a real bonus in summer months, and the developments stepped design also means several of the apartments have expansive roof terraces too.
The clear glazed balconies are of an integral design to the building — providing shelter from the high winds in the Canary Wharf area, and a large enough space for a decent sized table and chairs even in one-bedroom apartments.
Telford Homes high-spec interiors
While not as prolific in this part of the Isle of Dogs as developers Galliard and Ballymore, Telford Homes have plenty of experience building high-spec apartments across London.
Since Telford Homes inception in 2000, they have won numerous awards including Best Customer Satisfaction at the Housebuilder Awards. The Liberty Building is no exception, and the fixtures and fittings — alongside the internal space in general — are high quality and well laid out.
Kitchens at the Liberty Building are from highly rated London designer Urban Myth, and there are premium appliances and fixtures throughout. In addition, the apartments are all slightly larger than average for the area and there are no studio flats in the building. The smallest one-bedrooms are over 550 square feet, giving them a spacious feel.
Inbuilt LED mood lighting, and neutral tones alongside large expanses of glazing further the roomy feel.
Premium oak flooring and underfloor heating mean this development feels premium.
The downsides to the Liberty
Extremely limited parking
While the central location means that many Canary Wharf residents choose not to own cars, there is the option to purchase car parking in many new developments. At the Liberty Building, this is not an option.
Despite being located next to a wealth of residential streets with on street parking, the Liberty building is surprisingly lacking in parking options. As a designated car-free development, residents cannot purchase permits from Tower Hamlets to use any of the on street parking.
Equally, the Limeharbour development itself only has 6 non-disabled parking spaces. With this, 2 are allocated to the penthouse apartment, so in reality there is no parking available for any residents. There are secure storage spaces for your bike though — 207 to be precise!
Some transport noise
The access to the DLR at Crossharbour is both a benefit and a negative for the Liberty Building.
While access — directly across Limeharbour road — is very quick, the elevated DLR line snakes closely past the development and does provide some noise, especially on lower and southwest facing floors.
Additionally, the developments small plot is surrounded on 3 sides by roads, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for landscaping or space to set the building back to limit noise.
The Liberty Building is sandwiched between two roads, Limeharbour and East Ferry. While East Ferry road is a small residential road, Limeharbour road is the main u-shaped road that runs around the perimeter of the isle of dogs peninsula. Despite the 30 mph speed limit, it is a major thoroughfare and therefore very busy — and located immediately in front of the Liberty Building.
Summary
The Liberty Building in Limeharbour combines high-spec apartments found in many of the glistening new developments, in a smaller building slightly further east of the more built-up central Isle of Dogs area.
While slightly further from the action, being on the periphery affords the Liberty Building sweeping views, and it also means it doesn’t suffer from feeling overlooked like some of the more densely populated developments in the Harbour Central — like Lincoln Plaza or Sailmakers.
Disappointingly though, the Liberty Building’s tight plot means that while not among the skyscrapers of Wood Wharf or Harbour Central, the immediate surroundings don’t actually feel any less busy than some of the more central locations.
The Liberty Building doesn’t have the height or wealth of additional residents facilities that the larger more central Isle of Dogs towers — such as South Quay Plaza or Pan Peninsula — have. But at roughly £3.20 per square foot service charge, it also offers significantly better long-term value and higher rental yields than some amenity packed nearby developments.
The Telford Homes development has quick access to nearby green space at Mudchute park and farm, and offers a more residential low-key charm than some of the more commercial-looking glass towers. Situated on the edge of a more mature area of the Isle of Dogs, the Liberty tower also has plenty of nearby retail and pubs.
As such a popular but relatively small development, the main downside to the Liberty Building is finding one of the fully-sold apartments available for sale!
