The 4.9m sq ft scheme will see Canary Wharf extended to the east with the addition of 30 new buildings.

Completion of the first phase of the Wood Wharf plans will coincide with the arrival of Crossrail in 2018.

The new neighbourhood will provide 2.6m sq ft of residential including 3,100 new homes ranging from park-side townhouses to high-rise buildings designed by some of the world’s most renowned architects.

The neighbourhood will include a mix of private, intermediate and social housing as well as provide a network of high-quality parks and public squares with around 9 acres of interconnected public spaces, including a kilometre of dock-edge walkways.

Wood Wharf will also will include a variety of commercial offices totalling 1.9m sq ft with a focus on the creative media, technology and telecommunications sector.

It also includes a new 420 place primary school, a NHS medical centre, a Community Centre, a hotel and more than 100 new high street shops, restaurants and cafes totalling net 0.40m sq ft.

Sir George Iacobescu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of developer Canary Wharf Group said:”We are very pleased to have worked in collaboration with Tower Hamlets and the local community in helping to achieve this important planning permission.

“This major eastern development of Canary Wharf will reinforce the district as one of London’s most vibrant and dynamic mixed-use commercial and residential districts.

“It will combine new high quality offices aimed at the fast emerging TMT (Technology, Media and Telecommunications) sector; a wide variety of high street shops and restaurants, and a range of new housing opportunities designed around generous newly created public spaces.

“We expect to be on site in the fourth quarter of 2014, with the first buildings to be occupied as early as the end of 2018.”