The London skyline has changed dramatically in the years since I was eleven and I've been lucky enough to have played a small part in its evolution.  

I moved to London in May 1980 to work as a trainee development manager at Wates Homes Ltd and which happened to coincide with the establishment of the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC). The LDDC was responsible for masterminding the redevelopment of the vast area of derelict docks located immediately to the east of Tower Bridge on both the north and south banks of the river Thames (save for St Katherines Dock which was already well under way as a private development initiative by construction heavyweight Taylor Woodrow.)

I was one of the first development company representatives to have early meetings with the LDDC and which resulted in my identifying several potential residential development sites on the Isle of Dogs (including an old timber yard right at the southern tip and which Wates ultimately redeveloped as 'Felstead Gardens'  in 1983-85). My career in the real estate development sector rather flourished as a result of my Docklands expertise and I spent almost ten more years working for several other leading development companies and associated with various landmark projects in Docklands and central London as well as the residential phases of Hatfield Gallerias in Hertfordshire. 

By the time the economy collapsed in the summer of 1990 I was development director of the specialist residential subsidiary of a leading UK construction group but which decided to divest itself of its speculative real estate development business. Fortunately, I had already begun to diversify into assessing the potential for early information communication technologies in relation to large project team scenarios and was able to fairly gracefully change career direction to the digital sector and which set the scene for my next twenty five years of working focus.

However, I've never forgotten my London real estate development days and the interesting projects in which I was involved. It's been lovely to return to London and to see how much the skyline has changed in the last thirty five years and to capture it in various photos that I've included in the gallery below.

Ever since that first school trip I've been hooked on London. I lived and worked there for twenty five years and still never tire of it. I can now view it as a visitor and enjoy being a tourist a couple of times a year. 

This particular set of photos features The Tower, Tower Bridge and the stretch of Thames from St Pauls and Millennium Bridge to Tower Bridge. The associated views have changed dramatically since my first school visit as the new, shiny, city skyline and south bank have been developed and the riverside opened-up to public access. I love it!