How has economic activities changed in London Docklands. What impact has this had?"
Introduction:
The purpose of this coursework is to investigate "How has economic activities changed in London Docklands. What impact has this had?" To help me answer this question I will answer the broken down questions in order for me to find out how has it changed from 1980's to now.
* What was employment like before redevelopment?
* What was the people, housing, transport, services and facilities like at this time?
* What is the employment like after redevelopment?
* How have the people, housing, transport, services and facilities changed?
I intend to use Primary and Secondary data to help me get the history
and present day image of the London Docklands. Primary data is when I look at data collected by myself and secondary data is when someone else has given me the information. I will also use the questionnaire data (primary), the museum notes (Secondary) and the comparison between Area 1 and 2, which had the Bi-Polar analysis.
The History of Docklands:
During the nineteenth century the port of London was the busiest in the world. The docks were surrounded by warehouses storing goods being brought into or sent out of Britain, industries using imported goods and high density, poor quality housing. After the 1950's the size of ships increased so much that they could no longer reach London's docks. By 1970 Docklands had become virtually derelict with few jobs, few facilities and poor living conditions for the local people. In 1981, the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was set up to try and improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of the area.
The London Docklands were once at the centre of successful trade between Britain and countries of Europe and the world. Problems began at the end of the 19th century and lasted into the 1930's. The docks were heavily used for the Second World War (1939 -1945) for strategic manoeuvres but due to heavy bombing, it caused severe damage to the Docklands. By the 1960's, the Docklands began to decline dramatically. Foreign competition meant that the British area, shipbuilding industry and other associated activities (agglomeration economies) went in to major decline. The older docks were closed down one by one as they were becoming too small for the size of modern day ships (containerisation).
Containerisation:
The move towards containerisation using larger ships to carry huge regular shaped containers meant that the largest docks could survive.
Tilbury Docks which is 20km downstream of the Isle of Dogs has deeper
water and is capable of accommodating the larger container ships.
It now handles the majority of London's commercial traffic.
Employment:
By 1981 the Docklands were without shipping traffic and what had been London's commercial heartland became a wasteland. The Port of London Authority (PLA) who own the docks report that employment fell from 25,000 in 1960 to 4,100 in 1981. The rate of unemployment became worse because for every one job lost in the docks three were lost in the associated industries.
These conditions did affect local people, who lived or commuted into the Dockland area. Traditional jobs in the docks and nearby industries had been manual, unskilled, unreliable and poorly paid. By 1981 large numbers of local people were unemployed and living in sub-standard housing in a poor quality environment. Many were forced to leave the area to look for work and a better quality of life elsewhere. These were the conditions when the LDDC were set up. The LDDC were given three main tasks:
) To improve economic conditions by creating more jobs and improving the transport system both to and within the area.
2) To improve the environment by resorting derelict land, cleaning up the docks and creating areas of open space.
3) To improve social conditions.
Map 1 of United Kingdom, showing location of London Docklands:
London docklands
Map 2 of London, showing location of London docklands:
London docklands
Map 3 of London docklands, showing the sites I studied:
Tour of area
Area comparison 2
Questionnaire
Shop Survey
London docklands is located in the south east of England, (see map1). It is in the city of London, (see map2). I collected my data at various sites across the London docklands as shown on map3.
Data Collection:
To get the information I need to the changes made to the London Docklands. I will look at the following places:
* Museum
* Canary Wharf
* Harbour Square
* Glengall Grove
* Clippers Quay
I will also have a tour of the area, and listen to the teacher to see if there has been a change in the landscape or if it still is the same.
The above picture is the Museum in which I studied to find the Docklands history and redevelopment.
What data you collected (Primary or secondary)
Where you did it
How you did it
Why you did it
What problems you ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
* Museum
* Canary Wharf
* Harbour Square
* Glengall Grove
* Clippers Quay
I will also have a tour of the area, and listen to the teacher to see if there has been a change in the landscape or if it still is the same.
The above picture is the Museum in which I studied to find the Docklands history and redevelopment.
What data you collected (Primary or secondary)
Where you did it
How you did it
Why you did it
What problems you encountered
What improvements
you would make
Museum notes (s)
Museum
Gathered information and photos
For comparing London Docklands before redevelopment to after
redevelopment
Not enough time to read through information therefore not getting enough information, other people were looking at information I wanted to see so I couldn't look through everything in time and in depth
More time to spend gathering information
Tour of area (p)
Isle of Dogs
Driving around in the coach while the teacher told us the information
To see if there has been a change in the landscape or if it still is the same
Didn't have enough time to visit all the locations as we had a limited amount of time. As we had to be in the museum in 10 minutes time
Shop survey (p)
Canary Wharf
Detailed notes, tally chart
The purpose of this is to see if the shops meet the demands of the old population or the new residents
Not enough time, the set categorization wasn't good and the grouping wasn't expanded enough
More local shops to survey, different locations
Questionnaire (p)
Harbour Exchange
Questioned people by using a tally chart
The object of this is to find out who benefited from the redevelopment
We only asked ten people, they were in a hurry, most people were working so its not very reliable
Ask more number of people, more questions, come back different days also use a different location
Property prices (s)
Harbour Exchange
Wrote down in a table of results the different prices of different types of houses in London docklands from an estate agency window
The purpose of this is to try and find out how expensive property is compared to another area
I couldn't find like for like houses so therefore not having a reliable comparison between the differences between prices of London docklands houses to Hounslow's houses
Could interview an estate agent in Hounslow and London docklands
Bi-polar analysis (p)
Glengall Grove, Clippers Quay
Tally chart and information
Compare differences between two areas in London Docklands, to see the differences in the environments and landscapes
Wrong time of day
Ask other people for results
Car registration tally (p)
Glengall Grove, Clippers Quay
Tally chart and information
To determine the age of cars in two areas to see how wealthy one area is to the other area
Half of the cars were missing, therefore the tally doesn't show the wealth of the area
Do the tally more times to get more reliable results. As I only did the tally once and half of the cars were missing.
Sketches/photographs (p)
Glengall Grove, Clippers Quay
Using a camera
To show the changes in the landscape
Weather and time.
More film rolls therefore more pictures
The centre of attraction of London is the Canary Wharf and the 800-foot rocket-shaped Canary Wharf Tower, more properly known as One Canada Square. It was designed by Cesar Pelli and is the tallest building in the UK. Our task was to take a shop survey which we filled out according to the written categories in our booklets, i.e. Jewellery shops, Cafes etc. The purpose of this was to see if the shops met the demands of the old population or the new residents. The most popular shop was the Sandwich bar/Café, which is just under a half of the total shops we surveyed. Doing this may have caused our tally to be inaccurate as we may have counted the same shop twice, which would give us an inaccurate result. To improve this I would start from one end and head straight down then go to the side aisles. This would avoid confusion and mistakenly writing the same shop twice.
The questionnaire was done in harbour square, where I asked as many people as I could find, questions about the Docklands area. They gave their own opinions freely. The questionnaire was to see who benefited from the redevelopment, and see if the LDDC made it better or worse. Many people don't live in the Dockland area, and they travel from their homes to work here as there are more job opportunities. Most people are happy with the redevelopment but do have their share of the negative points of the area. We did have a few minor problems, as we didn't know if the person was telling the truth or that they looked or overheard other people's opinions . Also not that many people were willing to answer to the questions as they might have been late for work or were working at the time we were asking the questions. The solution to this would be difficult. This is because if I were to set up a place to get people to get them to share their opinions, not many people would come as I said not that many people were willing to answer the questions.
Glengall Grove was a place where we had to do a car registration tally chart and a Bi-polar analysis where we had to say what the area was like. This was used as evidence before redevelopment. This was compared with Clippers Quay, where we had to do the same for Glengall Grove and this was used as evidence after redevelopment. Glengall Grove was mostly noisy, derelict and old. However it was mostly clean and tidy, but there was room for improvement. Clippers Quay, was peaceful, clean, tidy, new and was mostly green. I think Clippers Quay was a new road built after redevelopment and Glengall Grove was an old road which was redeveloped, in order for it to be suitable for people to live. Glengall Grove had more cars in total than Clippers Quay. Most people owned an earlier type car, six owned a V and W registrations, four owned an X and Y registrations, seven owned a 51, 02, 52, 03, 53 and 04 registrations and one person owned a personalised registration. The purpose of this was to compare two places and see what differences or similarities they have. Doing this was quite easy and I didn't have problems in writing down what car registration categories I thought they would come under.
Amandeep Ghuman
Mr. Mooney
How has economic
activities changed in
London Docklands,
What impact has this had?
July 2004
Data Presentation:
Figure 1 shows a bar chart on the car registration tally chart containing the information for the number of different registrations at Glengall Grove
Figure 2 shows a bar chart on the car registration tally chart containing the information for the number of different registrations at Clippers Quay
I questioned 10 people in the Docklands Questionnaire.
Figure 3 shows a pie chart on the Docklands Questionnaire containing the information of the number of people who work in the Docklands from the 10 people I questioned
Figure 4 shows a bar chart on the Docklands Questionnaire containing the information of what category best fits their job
Figure 5 shows a bar chart on the Docklands Questionnaire containing the information of what form of transport they use to get to work
Figure 6 shows a pie chart on the Docklands Questionnaire containing the information of the number of people that live in the Docklands from the 10 people I questioned
Figure 7 shows a graph on the Docklands Questionnaire containing the information of what shops/facilities they use in the docklands area
Figure 8 shows the docklands area before 1981 and before any redevelopment
In this photograph you can see that there were ships, hangers for the ships and no skyscraper building or any type of housing around the docklands area.
Figure 9 shows the improved structure of the docklands area and the improvements, which were made.
In this photograph above you will be able to tell the difference from the older docklands. Now there are improved motorways, tall buildings (for offices) and more greenery.
Figure 10 shows the changes in employment before redevelopment and after redevelopment
Employment
Jobs before redevelopment
Jobs after redevelopment
Casual employment
Low wages + more work
The phase ironically introduced the employment in 1967.
Taking away casual employment
Replacing damages
Port and Dock workers
Manufacturing
Everything had to be done by hand because there was no machinery
Improved wages
Employed on permanent basis
Newer jobs in local services for increased population
New centre built
Docks added new jobs
Hotels and office blocks
Business and finance
Highly skilled qualifiers
Over 1000 new jobs
Figure 11 shows the changes in housing before redevelopment and after redevelopment
Housing
Housing before redevelopment
Housing after redevelopment
Houses were very small and lacked modern amenities
Very cheap
High raised flats which collapsed after gas explosions
95% of housing were council housing
5% were privatised
Cramped tower blocks
Low rise high density public housing
Approximately 20,000 new homes and flats were built
The housing at 1965 encourages continuation of high-rise scheme through cash incentives to local councils.
Cheaper housing
Better amenities
38% were now privatised
64% are now owned by the council
Figure 12 shows the changes in the infrastructure of the docklands before redevelopment and after redevelopment
Infrastructure
Infrastructure before redevelopment (roads and services)
Infrastructure after redevelopment (roads and services)
Road congestion leads to demands for improvements to river crossing.
967= 40,000 pedestrians crossed London Bridge each day and 30,000 vehicles every hour
Warehousing obsoletes were being abandoned part as port activities moved further
Others were converted for residential use.
Warehousing providing excellent studio accommodation.
Concrete sections of the new bridge were assembled
London bridge opened in 1972
Old bridge disassembled
Docklands light railway (driven by computer no driver)
The improved A13
Many new roads were built e.g.
Royal docks road
City airport was refurbished
Figure 13 shows the changes in transport before redevelopment and after redevelopment
Transport
Transport before redevelopment
Transport after redevelopment
The public transport was disorganised
It was poorly developed
The buses and trains were never on time
Only the river ships and ferries were used a lot and were controlled very well.
Docklands light railway and the city airport was opened in 1987
Improved links to get to the central London in under 10 minutes
Jubilee line was made to go to the London Docks as well
Figure 14 shows a map of where the museum is located in the docklands area
Figure 15 shows a table of similar houses and the comparison between the prices between houses in London docklands and Hounslow
Type of property
(e.g. 1 bed flat, 3 bed house etc)
Cost In Docklands
Cost of similar in Hounslow
3 Bed House
£300,000
£215,000
2 Bed Flat
£295,000
£145,000
2 Bed Apartment
£314,995
£147,500
4 Bed house
345,000
£304,950
Bed Flat
£265,000
£117,750
Bed Apartment
£275,000
£139,950
Figure 16 shows a graph of similar houses and the comparison between the prices between houses in London docklands and Hounslow
Figure 17 shows an area chart on the different types of shops in Canary Wharf
Figure 18 shows the Bi-polar analysis for Glengall Grove.
Before redevelopment took place in 1981, the area was crowded, dirty, unclean, old, damaged facilities and unemployment. After the LDDC, the docklands area had cost over £1 million to re-build making it satisfactory for the local residents.
Casual employment persisted before redevelopment. There was poor labour, and poor wages ranging between £9 -£16. Part time employers had the choice of working on a permanent basis. Jobs after redevelopment had improved. There are now on regular pay, paid by the number of hours you have worked, there are new machinery to help with the workload and there are local jobs nearby, such as working in an office/shop.
Housing in the Docklands in 1981, became a problem. The houses we have today weren't there in 1981. People lived in cramped tower blocks which had to fit a family, with basic necessities. These houses were low rise, high density public houses. The housing acts 1965 encouraged continuation of hi raise schemes through cash incentives to local councils. Today, houses are built on former industrial land away from communities. They are costly, built on Greenfield sites, which means that many places are without greenery.
Infrastructures before redevelopment (roads and services) were old and needed to be replaced. Warehouses became obsolete, abandoned part as port activities moved further. Others converted for residential use. They provided excellent studio accommodations. Warehouses became derelict. After the redevelopment, the London bride was assembled made from concrete sections. The bridge opened in 1972 but was dismantled after the war as it got damaged. The LDDC chose to improve the roads and the rails. They had built Docklands Light Railway (DLR) which is mostly used for commuters to commute into the Dockland area.
The rail network in 1981 didn't provide for convenient movement around Docklands or for the rapid movement between Docklands and the rest of London. Rail links were not available from the Isle of Dogs.
The two main railway lines did not provide a direct service into the centre of London. Passengers were required to change onto the tube to get access to the City and further. The bus system formed the mainstay of Docklands public transport system, particularly for the Isle of Dogs. Despite the relative frequency of services, buses suffered in terms of reliability and overall journey times as a result of the limitations of the road network. Today, new transport has been used such as the Dockland Light Railway (DLR).
In addition to the DLR, there are bus routes, cycle lanes, the London City Airport and to make London better, there are excellent rails and roads network.
The City Airport is the only airport and designed for small aircrafts or private jets. The airport runs along the docks and has links to Europe.
The reason for this being built is that it is ideal for businesses to import or export goods.
House Prices Comparison
We had to compare house prices within the Dockland area and Hounslow.
We had to go into an estate agency window and take down prices for some houses. We then needed to see the same type of houses in the Hounslow area and see if these were cheaper or more expensive.
(Below Figure 5)
Type of Property Cost in Cost of similar
Docklands in Hounslow
2 bedroom house £210,000 £195,000
bedroom house £179,950 £152,000
2 bedroom house £214,995 £189,950
3 bedroom house £207,950 £145,950
2 bedroom bungalow £235,650 £295,000
3 bedroom house £275,000 £189,000
From figure 5 it can be seen
Data Presentation Analysis:
Figure 1 shows a graph of the Car Registration Tally Chart results on Glengall Grove. It has more cars that Clippers Quay, earlier versions, and eighteen newer versions.
Conclusions:
From doing this study, I can successfully say that I can now answer the question "How has economic activities changed in London Docklands, What impact has this had?"
Changes occurred in the London Docklands after the LDDC chose to
help improve the docks. They had changed the following:
Employment:
Low rents attracted a number of hi-tech and financial firms. This includes The Limestone ITV studios and The Guardian and Daily Telegraph newspapers.
Housing:
Many of the former warehouses have been transformed into luxury flats. This is an example of gentrification. Low cost housing has also been built along with the renovation of older council owned properties.
Leisure:
A large shopping area was constructed close to Canary Wharf. A number of parks have been created where buildings once stood. More recently the Millennium Dome was built in this area.
Transport:
London's Docklands now has its own light railway, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) connects with Bank and Monument underground stations. This makes travel into the City of London very easy.
Although the redevelopment of London's Docklands brought many benefits to the area there are some groups who oppose the changes. This includes some of the original inhabitants of the area who are now unable to afford to live there. The majority of the jobs in the new hi-tech industries are unsuitable to unemployed docks workers. They do not have the skills needed for jobs in these industries. Close communities have been broken up. Many believe there are insufficient services for people living in the area e.g. caring for the elderly.
The above explain the changes made to the Docklands briefly, and have explained what impact it has on people.
In my opinion, I feel that I have produced a successful investigation, which has given me successful results. I would improve by doing the graphs and Bi-polar analysis by computer to make them stand out even more.
