Sir George Iacobescu, who masterminded Margaret Thatcher’s vision for Canary Wharf, has quit the developer as it battles an exodus of banks from the financial district.
Sir George will step down as non-executive chairman of the Canary Wharf Investment Group (CWG), the owners and developers of the docklands area, after 36 years with the company.
He will be replaced by City grandee Sir Nigel Wilson, the former chief executive of Legal & General, from July 1.
Sir George, who is the only Romanian-born person to have received a knighthood, led the British property company as chief executive from 1997 and as chairman from 2011.
He is credited with realising Margaret Thatcher’s vision of regenerating London’s depleted docklands into a financial district as part of her free market revolution.
Sir George oversaw the development of the east London business centre across three decades, helping lure some of the world’s largest banks including HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Citi.
The property tycoon also had a hand in redeveloping Shell’s former headquarters on the London South Bank and the building of the “Walkie Talkie” skyscraper.
Sir George was one of five executives sent by Olympia & York, then the world’s biggest developer, to inspect the Canary Wharf site in 1987.
In an interview with The Telegraph in 2012, he said: “I went all the way from Central London to Canary Wharf and I got totally lost. I had never been to London before. I got lost on Narrow Street and found out why it is called Narrow Street.
“When I got to Canary Wharf the structure of the DLR [Docklands Light Railway] was built but it wasn’t working. You wouldn’t have wanted to be there past dark. There was no water and no electricity. There was absolutely nothing.
“I went back to New York and I wrote a note to my boss saying: ‘Don’t touch it’.”
He said on Wednesday: “It has been the honour and the challenge of a lifetime to have worked with an extraordinary group of people transforming a derelict dock into a thriving mixed-use city district. CWG is the first company on the planet to have built an entirely new central business district from scratch.”
His retirement comes amid a wave of financial tenants abandoning Canary Wharf in search of smaller offices in the City of London following a shift to home working during the pandemic.
Credit rating agency Moody’s in March announced it will leave Canary Wharf after more than 15 years having picked a new office near St Paul’s Cathedral.
Meanwhile, HSBC last year announced plans to ditch its 45-storey skyscraper at 8 Canada Square, dubbed the “tower of doom” by staff, which it has occupied since 2002.
The bank will instead move to a smaller base at the former BT head office also near St Paul’s once its Canary Wharf lease runs out in 2027.
Elite law firms Clifford Chance and Skadden have also quit Canary Wharf in favour of the Square Mile.
However, rival banks Barclays and Morgan Stanley have chosen to remain, while fintech company Revolut earlier this month said that it will move its global headquarters to Canary Wharf.
The retreat from London’s financial centre has seen Canary Wharf Group seek to reduce its reliance on banks by reinventing itself as a hub for life sciences while also developing residential and retail space.
Sir Nigel’s appointment will be his first major role since stepping down as chief executive of Legal & General last year after more than a decade in charge.
When he ran L&G, Sir Nigel pioneered a strategy of “inclusive capitalism” which sought to benefit society as well as deliver financial returns through the FTSE 100 company’s investment activity.
It saw the 188-year-old insurer use its own balance sheet to invest in science parks, tech startups and student accommodation.
Although praised by politicians and ESG advocates, not all of L&G’s inclusive capitalism projects were successful.
L&G closed its modular homes business, which aimed to solve the housing crisis through factory-built properties, in 2023 after seven years of heavy losses.
Sir Nigel was replaced by António Simões, the former head of Santander’s European business, in January. Last week, Mr Simões outlined plans to overhaul the insurer.
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2024-06-19 09:00:00Z
CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDI0LzA2LzE5L2NhbmFyeS13aGFyZi1hcmNoaXRlY3QtcXVpdHMtZmluYW5jaWFsLWRpc3RyaWN0LWV4b2R1cy_SAQA
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