Canary Wharf is the heart of London’s Financial & Business District, home to many Banks and Investment companies that support & grow the UK’s Economy, whilst also providing a thriving artistic and lifestyle hub for those that either work or live nearby. Here there’s more than 300 shops, garden walks, river walks and a range of bars, restaurants and eateries – all within a 15 minute walk.
Well, why mention Canary Wharf at all? Because since 2009 Turkiye has been building it’s very own equivalent of this Business & Cultural Hub in the Ataşehir district of Istanbul. Called the Istanbul Finance Centre it will become the new home of the country’s most important financial institutions including the Central Bank of Turkiye, the Istanbul Stock Exchange, The Banking Regulation Agency and the Capital Markets Board. Not only that but other big names will also be joining them including Ziraat Bank, Halkbank and Vaafibank.
The Finance centre will, in its entirety, offer around 1.4m square metres of office space along with a huge shopping centre, conference and performance venue, five star luxury hotel and parking for around 26,000 people. The expectation is that around 100,000 people will visit per day consisting of office workers, locals and tourists. Every building within the district will enjoy state of the art facilities and technology, plus there will be wide spread air conditioning and beautiful architecture throughout.
Construction has nearly been completed and it’s widely expected to be finished around April time, and demand is high from businesses to occupy the spaces available both on the commercial side and the retail side. They haven’t begun to lease space yet, but based on demand it should be close to full by the end of the year.
Helping Istanbul to become one of the top 20 financial centres in the world was British Company Arup Group who provided a range of business services including geotechnical, infrastructural, structural, mechanical, electrical, transportation and sustainability during the Masterplan Design Preparation Stage.
*Credit to Arup Group for the Image:
https://www.arup.com/projects/istanbul-international-financial-centre
