London Photo Gallery - Royal Albert Dock

Royal Albert Dock is a large regeneration community spanning 12 hectares. It has a mix of uses with the University of East London and residentials while London City Airport sits on the other side of the water. The plan is to deliver some 2000 new homes to the area. When containerization prompted the ports to move further downstream in the 1960s, the former docks on this stretch of the Thames shut, creating major unemployment and social issues. It's a massive zone that includes Canary Wharf and the area depicted here. The DLR has several stops along the length of the former dock and it is a short commute into Canary Wharf. The University of East London was founded in 1898 and opened a campus here in 1999 with a focus of getting students the right skillsets for a job. There is a long stretch of waterfront promenade with views of airplanes and Canary Wharf's skyline without the crowds. In 2013, Boris Johnson announced a scheme involving Chinese investors to transform this area into a new financial district. However, development has been entangled in controversy as Chinese developer ABP failed to deliver an office district as the real estate industry in China imploded. Brexit and the pandemic made things worse, with what was built becoming a ghost town and the Great London Authority finally stepped in to remove the developer from the project in 2022. The first of the 6-phase project was never completed as construction stopped in 2019.