From Construction Waste to Contemporary Art: Londoners Given Exclusive First Look Inside New Canary Wharf Landmark Building – 19.08.26

• One North Quay, a vertical science and innovation campus set to become a landmark of the London skyline, opens its doors to the public for the first time as part of Open House Festival
• Visitors can experience Niamh Hannaford’s artwork created using waste materials from Canary Wharf construction sites
• The project forms part of CWG’s wider move towards a circular economy, finding new uses for materials that would otherwise be discarded
• The building will be open to the public on Sunday 20^th September

One North Quay, Canary Wharf’s new science and innovation vertical campus, is opening its doors to the public for the first time, giving visitors a rare opportunity to step inside a live construction site and encounter Hannaford’s artwork Ní chronaítear an t-uisce go dtriomaítear an tobar suspended in the building created from construction materials salvaged on site.

As part of this September’s Open House Festival, when some of the capital’s most iconic buildings open their doors to the public, Londoners will get an exclusive first look inside One North Quay, a 23-storey, 823,000sq ft vertical science and innovation campus designed by renowned architects Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) and developed in partnership with Kadans Science Partner. The 23-storey landmark development will bring together laboratories, research spaces, start-ups and established science and innovation businesses under one roof.

The opportunity to visit One North Quay while it is still under construction offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of how a major new building is taking shape, while also highlighting a unique approach to construction waste.

Alongside the building’s architecture, visitors will experience a live work by Irish artist Niamh Hannaford on Sunday 20^th September, created using materials donated from CWG construction sites. The collaboration brings CWG’s ambition to move from a linear to circular economy, demonstrating how materials that might otherwise be discarded can be recovered, reused and transformed into something unexpected.  

Circularity is increasingly being embedded across Canary Wharf’s operations, with CWG taking its waste management operations in-house to help reduce waste across the district and ensure that, where possible, they are reducing construction waste by finding new uses for materials generated through development.

Hannaford’s work starts with something most people would overlook, construction waste. Using discarded materials from CWG’s sites, she reimagines elements of the building process as a striking sculptural installation, bringing together salvaged materials through performative assemblage. Rather than treating these materials as waste, Hannaford gives them a new purpose, inviting audiences to look differently at the objects and materials that surround them.

Hannaford has been exploring the relationship between materials and value throughout her practice. Her recent works reimagine the materials of contemporary construction into artworks that question inherited ideas of progress.

The new work at One North Quay continues this exploration, bringing together art, architecture and circularity within a building designed around the future of science and innovation.

Hannaford’s installation will form part of the Open House Festival programme at One North Quay, giving visitors a unique opportunity to experience the work within the building while it is still under construction.

Niamh Hannaford, Visual Artist commented:

“This site-responsive installation is formed by an obsession with large scale construction sites and the materials found within them. Ní chronaítear an t-uisce go dtriomaítear an tobar, set within one of London’s largest commercial developments, is formed using glass sheets, crane straps, and construction debris.

By using sunlight and water as the activating materials I aim to highlight the resistant capacities of joyful experiences, echoing the potential of repetitious effort by enacting environmental glimmers – a breath – a stretch – a break – for those that are tense of body.”

One North Quay itself offers something unusual for visitors to experience. A waterside, live construction site, the building has been designed as a vertical campus allowing for collaboration and exchange across the levels.  Visitors will get an exclusive taste of a piece of London’s future skyline.    

Across 823,000sq ft the building will bring together 570,000sq ft of science and innovation workspaces with high-spec, future-ready laboratories and collaboration environments all under one roof. Purpose-built for businesses with far-reach ambitions, it’s designed not simply as a collection of laboratories, but as a place where scientists, entrepreneurs and businesses can meet, collaborate and exchange ideas.

Its striking exterior, defined by brightly glazed terracotta panels, has already begun to establish One North Quay as a distinctive new addition to the Canary Wharf skyline.

Inside, the Open House Festival will give visitors the chance to experience the building before its official opening, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse at a new destination for London’s science and innovation communities.

Lowri Harries, Associate Curator commented:

“We’re incredibly excited to give the public a unique opportunity to step inside One North Quay as part of this year’s Open House Festival. From the building’s distinctive architecture and its role in shaping the future of science and innovation, to Niamh’s work transforming construction materials into art, there are so many different stories to discover inside the landmark building.  It’s particularly exciting to be able to share the building with Londoners before it officially opens, and to showcase how ideas around innovation, creativity and circularity converge. Niamh’s work encourages people to see the beauty in functional objects, and we hope placing it within an active construction site will reframe how people look and engage with the functional world around them.”

One North Quay will be open to the public on Sunday 20^th September as part of Open House Festival. Niamh Hannaford’s artwork installation and performance can be booked from Wednesday 19^th August here.

ENDS