London was built around the River Thames and initially prospered due to its excellent trading links. These days it makes most of its money through its financial businesses, many of which are located in the Docklands and Canary Wharf, towards the east of London. The problem with these areas is that, as well as being located within the floodplain on low-lying ground, they are quite literally surrounded by water, as the words ‘wharf’ and ‘docklands’ may indicate. You might think that this would have sounded alarm bells with city planners and architects – after all, you wouldn’t go building some of the country’s most financially lucrative businesses in places that contain words such as ‘pond’, ‘swamp’ and ‘marsh’ – but apparently not.
