Willowtree Marina, located on the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal in West London. For nearly 200 years the wharf was used to tranship bricks locally made from clay extracted from the surrounding land. It is said that some of the bricks were used to build Buckingham Palace. During the Great War the wharf was used for the transhipment of explosives as the site was remote from housing, yet easily accessible from London by canal and rail. During World War Two the site was further used by the GPO as a communications centre. In the mid-1980s the site was redeveloped by a public-private partnership between British Waterways, Laing Homes Ltd, Hillingdon Borough Council and Willowtree Marine Ltd. and now comprises businesses, leisure facilities, houses, and boats.