HQ3 is a 32-storey building designed by Cesar Pelli on the Heron Quays site to the south of the existing Canary Wharf estate. It is next to the Jubilee Line underground station and will have direct access to a new underground shopping mall.

Completion is scheduled for 2003, when Skadden Arps will move more than 275 lawyers into the new building. And if the option is exercised on the additional 40,000 sf, the head count will rise to 325 lawyers. Skadden Arps currently occupies 60,000 sf in One Canada Square, the original Canary Wharf tower.

Skadden Arps employs 1,700 lawyers in its 23 offices world wide with reported annual billings of £750 million ($1.08 billion). Canary Wharf Group Chief Executive George Iacobescu said: 'We are pleased that Skadden Arps will be moving into our new multi-tenanted building at Heron Quays. It demonstrates once again how we are able to work closely with our existing tenants to meet their additional space requirements. Skadden Arps originally moved to Canary Wharf four years ago to occupy 18,000 sf. It now occupies 60,000 sf, continues to grow and we are delighted to help accommodate that success.'