Developments Financial and business services Clean technology www.eastmagazine.net

LONDON’S HOTSPOT: EAST LONDON ISSUE ONE_2011

HORIZONNEW

London’s eastward growth gathers pace

ONE FOCUS, ONE TEAMWhen it comes to real estate law, DLA Piper delivers. Commercial and innovative, we’re

all about providing you with real value: developments and regeneration projects completed, returns maximised, disputes resolved and property portfolios strengthened.

Find out more at: www.dlapiperrealworld.com,or contact Peter Taylor, Head of Planning, peter.taylor@dlapiper.com

DLA Piper is an international legal practice, the members of which are separate and distinct legal entities.For further information please refer to www.dlapiper.com/structure | A list of offices can be found at www.dlapiper.com

www.dlapiper.com

bigger picture 04The present – and future – panorama of the Lower Lea Valley, with east London’s transformation firmly under way

introduction 07London’s major regeneration is heading one way: east. While the Olympics are a catalyst, the seeds of growth were sown long ago

financial and professional services 13Canary Wharf challenged the City’s dominance of the UK financial sector. This industry is greater than banking, with huge significance, benefiting the economy of east London and the UK as a whole

sustainability 20Initiatives to reduce carbon and offset climate change also make economic sense for east London

projects map 26What’s happening and whereabouts in London’s hotspot: east London

projects 29An update on some of the area’s major development schemes

key player 36London Thames Gateway Development Corporation’s chief executive, Peter Andrews, sets out his view of the progress and potential of the Lower Lea Valley

transport 39From its own airport to the Jubilee and East London lines and Docklands Light Railway, east London is already well connected.

Crossrail will bring even greater transport links along with economic opportunities

Peter Andrews: LTGDC chief executive

www.eastmagazine.net 0 �

round table 43Six leading businessmen share their vision and discuss their assessment of east London’s opportunities with LTGDC’s head of economic development

markets 48Facts and figures in brief – a snapshot of some of the east London’s vital statistics education and skills 51The economy of east London has changed, requiring residents to have different skills to compete in the new industry sectors

contacts 54For contacts and feedback visit www.eastmagazine.net

39

20

issue one_2011 13

36

0 � spring 2011

A glimpse of the future: the Olympic Park is an important driver in the

regeneration of east London but already,

transport and new developments have begun

the transformation of London’s hotspot.

www.eastmagazine.net 0 �

PARIS

LONDON CITY AIRPORT

ROTTERDAM

LUXEMBOURG

GENEVA

CHAMBÉRY

FLORENCE

BRIVE

BASEL

AMSTERDAM

NEWQUAY

DUBLIN

ISLE OF MAN

GLASGOW

MADRID

BARCELONA

NANTES

PLYMOUTH

ANTWERP

BRUSSELS

EDINBURGH

NEW YORK

DUNDEE

FRANKFURT

ZURICH

MILAN

MUNICH

NICE

EINDHOVEN

BILLUND

COPENHAGEN

STOCKHOLM

LCY084 - east Magazine - Full page230mm (w) x 297 mm (h) / 5mm bleed

020 7928 8023

Your preferred choicefor business and leisure.

Now better connected to Stockholm, Florence and Chambery.

For new timetables and to book visit

www.LondonCityAirport.com

NEW YORK

LCY084-East_Magazine_1_Dec.indd 1 01/12/2010 15:23

www.eastmagazine.net 07

continued overleaf ➳

London’s development can only go one way – east – where the large sites are available and where the need for economic renewal is acute. While the Olympics in 2012 are an important catalyst, Kate Turner finds that seeds of change have been sown over the past few decades

08 spring 2011

HABOVE: King George V dry dock in 1919, now the site of London City Airport. ABOVE RIGHT: The DLR links with the underground, overground and the airport.CENTRE: The O2 is the world’s most popular music venue.

www.eastmagazine.net 09

➳

ABOVE: Aerial views of the Olympic Park site. RIGHT: The docks before Docklands, looking east to the Isle of Dogs.

In autumn 2013 a new university building will open in the centre of Stratford, a joint collaboration between Birkbeck, Universityof London, and the University of East London, two complementary and well establishedhigher education institutions. This neweducation hub will encourage access and progression into higher education for people living and working in east London, supportingits economic regeneration.

The building, designed for flexible occupancy,will provide facilities for full-and part-time, day and evening study opportunities. Making the new university centre available to local community, business and arts groups, as well as other partners, supports the ongoing developmentof the area beyond the 2012 Olympics.www.bbk.ac.uk/stratford

New university hub for Stratford

➳

www.eastmagazine.net 11

The Granary Creative Industries Quarter, Abbey Road , Barking

The Rooff Group are pleased to announce the pur-chase of the Granary Building in Abbey Road,Barking from the London Thames GatewayDevelopment Corporation.The refurbishment of this locally historic industrialbuilding will form part of the first phase of thelonger term regeneration objectives for the AbbeyRoad area. LTGDC brought forward a comprehen-sive redevelopment planning consent for CreativeIndustries uses, mixed use development and resi-dential accommodation.

Rooff Development Director Steve Drury adds. "We arereally pleased to be associated with the start of theregeneration of the Abbey Road / Roding Riversidearea and believe that with our anchoring of the firstphase, we can help deliver sustainable future businessand job opportunities in the area.

The Granary building will form a new destination pointon the river, for business users and general publicalike, which links back to the Boroughs historic fishingand Malting heritage."

Rooff have already commenced work on site, whichwill feature the total refurbishment of the Granarybuilding, incorporating a new riverside café and ter-race and the construction of a new contemporarydesigned extension. Completion is due in Summer2011.The refurbished and new accommodation willbe part occupied by Rooff, with approximately 10 -15,000sqft available for Creative Industry and B1Commercial users.

Glenny have been appointed to market the com-mercial space. (www.glenny.co.uk) Relocation tothe Granary will enable Rooff to develop regenera-tion plans for its 3 acre site in Stratford, immediate-ly adjacent to the London 2012 Olympics Site.

Rooff Limited - Rooff HouseCooks Road London E15 2PNT: 020 8534 9797 F: 020 8534 0789www.rooff.co.uk

Cert. No:FS54902

www.eastmagazine.net 13

➳

14 spring 2011

Financial services

Professional services

Other business services

Goods

Travel

UK FINANCIAL SECTOR NET EXPORTS &I FINANCIAL SERVICES TRADE BALANCEI

UK SECTOR’ TRADE BALANCESI

www.eastmagazine.net 15

service sectors. He points to past recessions, which tended to stimulate mergers and acquisitions, creating the big companies that need large floorplate offices. One very recent example is US investment bank Bear Stearns, due to take space at Canary Wharf before it became a casualty of the financial crisis and was taken over by JP Morgan, now lined up to take the estate’s planned Riverside South skyscraper (see box) and the former Lehman Brothers building.

Canary Wharf is home to many large floorplate buildings, with room for plenty more. This is in contrast to the City of London, with its long-established ownership patterns and tighter planning regulations, making such schemes harder to build. Canary Wharf Group’s (CWG) head of strategy, Howard Dawber, says: “There are very few sites where you can build a million square foot office building in London.”

Dawber is confident about the area’s future growth

prospects. He says: “We have permissions in place, both in the London Plan and the Thames Gateway Development Prospectus, to suggest that Canary Wharf will double in size over the next 10 to 15 years.”

He’s not alone in this prediction: Oxford Economics estimates that Canary Wharf itself can generate 50,000 jobs by 2020 and that neighbouring Wood Wharf (see box) will create a further 25,000 by 2030, most of which will be in the financial and business services.

The area does have a unique set of advantages. As well as its room for expansion, it also has a single owner, CWG, which can forward plan and tailor its developments to meet the requirements of prospective occupiers, such as KPMG (see box). What’s more, thanks to its modern infrastructure, Docklands can offer guaranteed power provision, an important lure for financial service firms with their large and energy hungry trading rooms.

Docklands has benefited from billions of pounds worth of transport investment, of which the most notable have been the Jubilee Line extension and the Docklands Light Railway. With new transport links like the East London Line extension and the planned Crossrail, Docklands will be able to draw on a still wider pool of labour from across London and the broader southeast region.

Not to mention the neighbourhoods on Canary Wharf ’s East End doorstep, whose “fundamentally entrepreneurial” communities are increasingly engaging with the opportunities that Docklands has to offer, says Dawber.

Docklands’ locational advantages have already attracted

“There are very few sites where you can build a million square foot office building in London. We have permissions in place ... to suggest that Canary Wharf will double in size over the next 10 to 15 years” ➳

10%

of

UK

ex

po

rts

1990 2010

25

%o

f U

K e

xp

ort

s

UK sector’ trade balancesi

UK financial servicesi trade sUrplUsi

financial andi bUsiness sectorsi

(figures from ONS)

Bouygues Development is creating a new beating

heart for Canning Town for it to become a physical,

social and economic transformational catalyst for

the area. The masterplan re-establishes Canning

Town as a vibrant mixed use centre, re-connected

to the existing surrounding commercial areas.

It creates a genuine sense of place, with an iden-

tity that is lacking within the current fabric of Can-

ning Town. Massing and density have been bal-

anced with high quality, inspiring public realm to

provide a rich tapestry of uses, sympathetic to all.

A Fantastic New Town Centrefor Canning Town

Anchor food store, circa 7,300sqm

15,000 sqm retail for independent retailers,

local and regional operators

Cinema

Restaurants and bars

200 bedroom hotel

Health Centre

Commercial office space

Student accommodation

1,100 private for sale residential units

50 Extra Care Units

1,100 car park spaces

www.by-development.co.uk

BYUK advert EAST-V.03.indd 1 01/12/2010 16:54:13

www.eastmagazine.net 17

Wood Wharf The seven-hectare Wood Wharf site is currently a mix of warehouses, light industrial units and derelict land. But under a masterplan for the site drawn up by architect Rogers Stirk Harbour, the area will be transformed into a mixed-use development, creating a bridge between the commercial Canary Wharf and the mainly residential neighbourhoods of the East End.

Six buildings will provide approximately 454,000sq m office space, generating up to 25,000 jobs – it is estimated that a fifth will be taken by local people. Six more will house 1,668 homes – 35% of which will be affordable.

The scheme includes a community park, the first major area of public space for the Isle of Dogs in decades. The scheme will also open up formerly inaccessible waterside areas for public use with new boardwalks and waterfront parklands, while preserving and enhancing the historic docks. The public spaces were developed by Rogers with internationally renowned US landscape designer Martha Schwarz.

The development features a district cooling system using surrounding dock water.

Wood Wharf is a partnership between the developers Canary Wharf Group, Ballymore and British Waterways. It will be delivered in four phases. The masterplan, one of the biggest applications ever to be lodged in Western Europe, has received outline planning consent.

Management consultancy

Accounting services

Legal services

UK PROFESSIONAL SERVICESI TRADE BALANCESI

➳

18 spring2011

as “the most popular concert venue in the world”; the new convention facility at ExCeL London, and City Airport. Most UK cities would surely give their eye teeth for just one of these facilities.

Set against the offer that Canary Wharf provides to high-flying firms, Sunny Crouch, a former director of the London Docklands Development Corporation, believes that the wider Lower Lea Valley gives scope to cater for back office functions for medium-sized firms that are not currently accommodated in Docklands. For those needing start-up space or more than 100,000sq ft of office space, Canary Wharf is handsomely endowed. But there is a gap in provision for firms in the middle.

Crouch says: “They find that when they need to move they don’t have somewhere to go in the area. The future business health of the area clearly points to the need for more medium-sized space.”

Whatever happens, it would be very unwise to bet against the continuing growth of either London Docklands or its financial and business sector over the next 25 years.

JP MorganInternational banking giant JP Morgan, at the end of 2010, announced several London property investments, including acquisition of 25 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, the former HQ of Lehman Brothers. In 2012 this will become the new European headquarters of its investment bank.

JP Morgan will also continue to work with the Canary Wharf Group in order to develop the Riverside South site, the next major phase of Canary Wharf, described as Europe’s largest planned single office development. The Rogers Stirk Harbour designed scheme features a 45-storey tower, making it (by one metre) Docklands’ tallest building at 241m.

London’s Mayor Boris Johnson said: “This reflects confidence in the capital. JP Morgan’s commitment to London will help ensure the capital retains its position as a banking powerhouse, which drives the UK economy and attracts the financial world’s brightest stars.”

KPMG KPMG now occupies its new office at 15 Canada Square on the main Canary Wharf estate, opened by the Queen in November 2010.

While 1,500 staff remain at the company’s HQ in the City of London, 4,000 of its London staff moved to the new 400,000sq ft Docklands office, the biggest move by one of the so-called Big Four accountants to the area.

Canary Wharf Group head of strategy, Howard Dawber, says the attraction is clear. “KPMG came here because they’ve got a lot of clients.”

In addition, KPMG has been able to customise its new building. With 2,600 desks, ‘hot desking’ will be the norm for staff who will be expected to plug in their laptops after booking a work station at the reception. The desk ratio of one desk to 1.4 staff allows more space for facilities like meeting and project rooms as well as a business lounge for clients. The 15 floors are grouped into sets of three with break out areas in the middle.

Mike Blake, head of infrastructure, says: “We wanted to attract and retain the best employees, who would bring in the big business.”

docKlandsemployees

UK financial sector net exports

Early 1990s

201010

0,0

00

7,000

£2

0b

n

£5

0.6

bn

(do

wn

17%

o

n 2

00

8)

£4

1.8

bn

2005 2008 2009

(figures from ONS)

Discover the Promise of the EastPremium apartments in prime locations from

East London’s premier home builder

Queen Mary’s Gate

Greenwich Creekside, SE81, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments in West Greenwich, many withRiver Thames views. Six minutes walk to DLR and rail stationsfor connections to Canary Wharf and The City.

SALES CENTRE & SHOW APARTMENTS OPEN DAILYMON - SAT, 10AM - 6PM & SUN 11AM - 5PM

Call: 0800 883 8723

Queen Mary’s Gate, E18Luxury 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments in the heart of SouthWoodford. 24 hour concierge, landscaped gardens, secured parkingand just 15 minutes walk from a Central line tube station.

SALES CENTRE OPEN MON-SAT, 10AM-6PM & SUN 11AM-5PM

Call: 0800 883 8624

Vellum, E17A collection of stylish studios, 1& 2 bedroom apartmentsoffering rapid connections to the West End, The City andStratford with Black Horse Road tube station on the Victorialine less than 10 minutes walk.

SALES CENTRE & SHOW HOMES NOW OPEN - CALL OR SEE WEBSITEFOR DAILY TIMES

Call: 0800 883 8793

See website for further informationand next launches.

0800 032 0077telfordhomes.plc.uk

Adagio Point at Greenwich Creekside

Vellum

20 spring 2011

UniqUe environmental initiatives Under way in the former indUstrial heart of london are leading the charge towards the UK’s carbon redUction

targets – and the renaissance of the area’s economy, writes Sarah herbert

www.eastmagazine.net 21

The legacy of this area’s past as a provider of power generation and waste processing is being transformed to create a new

east London, one that leads the field in the development of sustainable infrastructure and attracts innovative clean tech businesses to locate here.

Through the Climate Change Act (2008), the UK has set a legally binding target to reduce UK carbon emissions by 80% (of 1990 levels) by 2050. This will mean radical new approaches to the way we generate and supply energy, as well as how we manage its demand.

Such radical rethinking creates opportunities. As London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “A century ago, we were cashing in on carbon, yet now there are clear economic opportunities coming from getting rid of it. I want London to be ahead of the queue, grasping a significant share of the jobs and economic booty arising from this new generation of low carbon goods and services.”

At the heart of London’s aim to reduce carbon emissions is the Sustainable Utilities Infrastructure project in the

Lower Lea Valley. Stretching from the Olympic Park in the north to the ExCeL centre in the east, the Lower Lee Valley is the largest regeneration opportunity in inner London, with capacity for 50,000 homes, and associated amenities. It is a huge opportunity to demonstrate how to transform a previously industrial and underused area into a thriving hub where people can lead healthy, low-carbon lifestyles.

The aim is to create an examplar community where advances in information technology will enable residents and businesses to use resources more efficiently, by managing utility demands and supply in real time.

Ultimately the aim is to have district heating networks, combined heat and power plants, a waste-to-energy plant, zero carbon dwellings (including refurbished existing houses), smart metering, green roofing, wind turbines, community recycling, fuel cell buses and electric car charging points, sustainable drainage and rainwater harvesting.

As Ian Short, chief executive of the Institute for Sustainability (which ➳

22 spring 2011

is behind the scheme), says: “It’s all about integrating low carbon resources – heat, power, water and telecoms – both existing and planned, and putting them together.

“As well as doing our bit to reduce carbon emissions we’re also using the project to drive investment for the community, resulting in reduced energy, better environment and a better quality of life. This in turn will attract investment and people to live and work in the area.

“The first phase – assessing what’s there, what’s planned and therefore what’s required – is complete. The second phase is now focusing on specific projects.”

These projects include extending the Olympic Park district heating network, undertaking a retrofit programme to bring existing buildings up to low-carbon standards and creating new community district heating networks. An Ofgem pilot demonstration already under way focuses on the Lower Lea Valley to help create a

‘smart grid’. This is a reconfiguration of the electricity grid to enable it both to take intermittent demand and supply, such as that generated by renewable energy, and to take power in, either from individual households’ microgeneration from photovoltaics or wind turbines.

The grid needs to cope with the increasing use of residential smart sensors that enable electricity to be used at the cheapest time – difficult for the current infrastructure – and with increased demand from such devices as electric cars and, ironically, the sensors themselves. According to Short, “It’s the most advanced project of its kind being undertaken in the UK.”

The initiative fits right into the Green Enterprise District, a six-borough wide, 48km sq, area of land, from Waltham Forest in the north to Tower Hamlets in the south and Havering in the east. It is designated

by the Mayor’s Office to help the city become a global low-carbon leader by using undeveloped industrial land to attract up to £140 billion of investment and create 6,000 jobs. The aim is to populate the area with organisations leading the field in the low-carbon sector, specialising in waste management, recovery and recycling, renewable energy, and emerging low carbon technology companies.

Ahead of the curve is the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation’s (LTGDC) London Sustainable Industries Park (SIP) in Dagenham, the home of cutting edge sustainable technologies, from recycling and renewable energy generation to the manufacture of sustainable construction materials and research and development. This business park provides a destination where forward thinking, clean technology companies can exploit an emerging recyclates supply chain in the Thames Gateway.

London SIP is located on 25-hectares of land between Ford’s advanced diesel engine plant and Barking Riverside, and is a £60 million investment by LTGDC, which will see new road and services infrastructure, together with a package of improvements to the public realm, including sustainable urban drainage, tree planting and new cycle routes linking to Dagenham Dock Station.

Better waste management will form a

vital element of reducing carbon emissions. Leading

the way towards a solution is one of the newest occupiers of

the park – Thames Gateway Power, owned by Cyclamax, a gasification plant which secured planning permission in July 2010. Gasification converts residual waste materials from local businesses into a gas called syngas. It has a lower carbon emission than natural gas but can be used in the same way to drive gas turbines and produce heat and power. This facility will remove 120,000 tonnes of locally generated waste a year from landfill producing around 16 Mw of energy, enough to power 31,500 homes, which represents 45% of the households in Barking and Dagenham.

Cyclamax and other businesses moving to the London SIP will ultimately create over 1,000 new jobs across a broad range of skills meeting the aspirations of local people as well as attracting new people to the area.

As Mark Bradbury, deputy director of development at LTGDC, says: “The Thames Gateway Power facility brings the green spark to the Sustainable Industries Park, allowing other tenants to use renewable and low carbon heat and power for their offices, workshops and factories, and reduce reliance on traditional fuels.”

One such company is Closed Loop, the UK’s only food-grade plastics recycler, which opened on the London SIP in June 2008. By recycling plastic milk and mineral water

“... we’re also using the project to drive investment for the community, resulting in reduced energy, a better environment and a better quality of life”

AnaerobicDigestion Facility

fertiliser produced at

the plant that saves the import of topsoil...

and helps reclaim land after years of

contamination...

in turn the growing of

food is possible with water and heat from the

plant...

Waste fromretailers,

restaurants and caterers converts to...

www.eastmagazine.net 23

➳

RIGHT: The London Sustainable Industries Park at night. BELOW: London SIP in daylight.

24 spring 2011

Another pleasing bit of synergy is that most of the food waste coming to the anaerobic digestion facility comes from retailers, restaurants and caterers, and is often still packaged. And who can recycle that packaging? Closed Loop.

It doesn’t end there. Across the road at Barking Riverside up to 10,800 new homes will be constructed over a period of 20 years. The land – contaminated by years of industrial use – can be greatly improved by using the fertiliser produced by the anaerobic digestion plant, rather than shipping in tonnes of topsoil. In the part of the development site last to be built on, this fertiliser could help to grow food, too, with water for irrigation and heat from the anaerobic digester and gasification plants.

Even further in the future, as another byproduct of gasification is hydrogen, there are plans afoot to install a hydrogen filling station for fuel cell cars, buses and commercial vehicles, the next big thing in green transport.

As Mark Bradbury says: “This kind of innovation is just what the Green Enterprise District wants to achieve. It’s a landmark scheme. And it’s typical of LTGDC – we pride ourselves on spotting a great idea and just getting things done.

“This park’s infrastructure will require some subsidy because we are going beyond what the market usually provides, although occupiers are still paying market value for their site. Our aim is to provide a test bed, so anyone replicating the model can learn from our successes.

“The park has a much higher level of landscaping than usual for an industrial development, and we believe this will drive up land values, and attract a wide range of employees. We are currently in discussion with around 40 businesses, all keen to get onto the development.”

Both a showcase for cutting edge sustainable design, and an iconic building in its own right, the £30 million Siemens Pavilion will put the Royal Docks well and truly on the map when it opens in 2012.

Granted consent by Newham Council in September 2010, it will be one of the flagship developments of the east London Green Enterprise District. The electronics giant estimates that it will attract 100,000 visitors a year to the new facility, which it hopes will inspire a new generation of youngsters to carve out careers in green industries.

It is also designed to attract other technology companies and green industries to form a research cluster in the Royal Docks, capitalising on recent investment in advanced high-speed communication infrastructure.

The long-term goal is to transform this part of Docklands, which contains 12km of waterfront, into a world class location for business headquarters, alongside research and manufacturing facilities.

The 7,000sq m building will contain a 2,760sq m exhibition hall, with an education facility and a dockside café, a 1,400sq m conference suite containing a 300-seat auditorium and 2,000sq m of office space, for 230 Siemens staff.

Siemens chief executive,

Andreas J Goss, commented: “Our aim is to create an attractive focal point that celebrates London’s ambition and leadership in green technologies and sustainability. Siemens is at the heart of providing sustainable solutions, from renewable energy to low-carbon transport and urban infrastructure. I hope the Siemens Pavilion will act as a catalyst for wider community involvement in the debate about how we will best address the challenge of climate change in our cities.”

Sir Robin Wales, mayor of Newham, added: “It will position Newham as a leader of the low carbon economy and will also help attract other high profile companies into the Royal Docks, which has obvious implications for increased employment and training opportunities.

“The commitment by Siemens will prove an unbelievable catalyst for further high-value, high-quality, job-creating investment. New high-skilled jobs in the burgeoning sectors of environmental and life science technologies will be fundamental to that agenda.

“Other high profile businesses with green credentials will never have a better opportunity to invest in the main host borough of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Siemens Pavilion

“Our aim is to create an attractive focal point that celebrates London’s ambition and leadership in green technologies and sustainability”

TOP: Changing view at dusk to the Siemens Pavilion, Royal Docks, due to open in 2012.ABOVE: Daytime panorama of Siemens Pavilion; and close up of the iconic architecture.

The 2012 Games is accelerating the regeneration of east London by decades and the future Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is at the centre of this area of growth and investment.

The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will bring together the best of London, all in one place. At its core will be the creation of family-focused neighbourhoods; making the Park a top visitor destination, developed around sport, active recreation and the creation of commercial and job opportunities.

Homes inspired by the best of London’s heritageOver the next 25 years, five neighbourhoods, with much-needed family homes will develop. These new communities will include up to 11,000 new homes, based around a network of schools, nurseries, health, faith and community facilities.

London’s new global attractionThe Park will have two very distinct characters – a vibrant and buzzing urban entertainment plaza in the south, anchored by the Stadium, Aquatics Centre and ArcelorMittal Orbit; sitting next to Europe’s largest urban shopping centre, Westfield Stratford City, and Stratford station with its nine train and tube lines.

This area will capture the imagination of domestic and international visitors with its varied programme of cultural, sporting and community events and attractions.

Open space and vibrant waterwaysThe north of the Park will be centred on a river valley, waterways, parkland and green space, offering outdoor activities including play areas, cycle paths and access to the road circuits and off-road trails of the Lee Valley Velopark.

Communities that work and growThe Park will also offer business and job opportunities, providing thousands of new jobs, potentially in the 90,000m2 campus style business hub in and around the Press and Broadcast Centres in the north west of the Park.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company is responsible for delivering this new exciting piece of city and is leading the planning, development and management of the Park over the next 25 years.

To find out more about our future plans please visit www.legacycompany.co.uk or contact us at info@legacycompany.co.uk

26 spring 2011

Stratford’S extraordinary development will See one of the largeSt mixed-uSe

expanSionS in the uK, with the creation of a new urban

parK, a £4 billion Shopping centre, a new commercial

diStrict with landmarK towerS and modern leiSure

facilitieS, and new urban diStrictS for tenS of

thouSandS of new reSidentS and worKerS ➳

www.eastmagazine.net 27

Stratford City

page29

Olympic Park

page30

StratfordTown Centre

page31

Canning Town

page32

Lea River Park

page33

Hackney Wick & Fish Island

page33

Bromley by Bow

page34

Sugar House Lane

page34

Poplar Riverside

page34

0825-JAN11

0825 East press advert fullpage.indd 1 24/01/2011 15:41:36

www.eastmagazine.net 29

w

Next to the Olympic site, Stratford City is the largest retail-led, mixed-use urban regeneration project ever undertaken in the UK, and will act as a catalyst for the regeneration of the whole of east London over the next 15 years.

Covering 73 hectares of previously largely derelict land, the new metropolitan centre will comprise 269,000sq m of retail and leisure space, 121,000sq m of hotel space, 613,000sq m of commercial district space, 16,400 new homes, and 17,000sq m of community facilities.

The first phase – to be completed in 2011 – will see 175,000sq m of retail, leisure and entertainment facilities, with 35,000sq m of hotel space, 1,224 apartments and a 12-screen Vue cinema. plus 106,000sq m office space in a cluster. This phase includes four tall office buildings: Stratford Place, The Square, First Avenue and Station Square.

Europe’s largest urban shopping centre, Westfield Stratford City, will include flagship anchor stores John Lewis and

Marks & Spencer – linked by a 24-hour ‘lifestyle street’ – plus another 300 fashion, lifestyle and food units, all attracting a catchment audience of 4.1 million people.

The retail centre alone will create more than 25,000 construction jobs throughout the project, peaking at 4,500 workers on site at one time. Altogether, Stratford City will create 24,000 jobs by 2015.

The highly sustainable scheme is subject to some of the UK’s most stringent sustainability standards, with 75% of its power coming from a dedicated, highly efficient, combined heat and power plant.

The European Commission has approved a joint venture to deliver a major business district next to the London Olympics site.

Stratford City developer Lend Lease, with landowner London & Continental Railways, will set up a 50/50 joint venture, Stratford City Business District. Dan Labbad, Lend Lease Europe, Middle East and Africa chief executive, said: “This sets the pathway for establishing London’s most significant new business district since Canary Wharf.”

➳

TOP: John Lewis at one end of Westfield Stratford – Marks & Spencer at the other.ABOVE: New office block at Stratford Place. BOTTOM: Light-filled internal retail mall.

30 spring2011

What’s keeping Stratford in the news is, of course, the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The 200-hectare Olympic Park will be home to the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, VeloPark and Athletes Village, together with the press centre over in Hackney Wick. There will also be a network of new highways and bridges, and new utilities infrastructure.

The 2,800-unit Athletes Village, currently being constructed by a consortium led by Lend Lease, will accommodate up to 17,500 athletes

and officials during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Afterwards it will become essential new housing, with 1,379 of the 2,800 homes being affordable. After the Games, when the park will become known as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, all the Olympic platforms will be redeveloped for non-game use and re-opened between 2013 and 2015.

The creation of five new neighbourhoods over the next 25 years will bring 11,000 much-needed family homes, stitching together the area’s communities through new transport connections, and providing commercial and job opportunities. The housing will be modern versions of London’s Georgian and Victorian squares and terraces, with a mix of houses, maisonettes and apartments, much of them along the park’s rejuvenated waterways. All these areas will be served by primary schools, nurseries, community facilities and health centres.

The first of the five neighbourhoods will be in the north-east of the park, with work due to commence in 2014, including a new high street between the neighbourhood and the adjacent

Olympic Village development, forming a key link between Leyton and Hackney Wick.

The largest neighbourhood will sit between Stratford City and the stadium, centred around the Aquatics Centre, where Stratford City meets the waterfront. Another neighbourhood, north-west of the Park and next to Hackney Wick, will centre around a new creative district incorporating the Press and Broadcast Centres, while another, the Old Ford area in the

www.eastmagazine.net 31

➳

TOP: Changing view at dusk to the Siemens Pavilion, Royal Docks, due to open in 2012.ABOVE: Daytime panorama of Siemens Pavilion; and close up of the iconic architecture.

FAR LEFT: Olympic pool at the Aquatics Centre.LEFT: The Olympic Velodrome will be completed first. CENTRE: At ground level, visitors will experience the iconic buildings and high quality open space.

south-west, will be created next to the Lea Navigation Canal.

The fifth neighbourhood will sit to the south-east of the stadium, near Pudding Mill Station, and will include allotments and light-industrial employment. The ground floor of properties on the High Street will be available for shops and other commercial opportunities.

The park itself will become a huge public resource. The southern part will continue the festival atmosphere

of the Games, with riverside gardens, markets, events, cafes and bars, while the northern area will use the latest green techniques to manage flood and rain water, while providing quieter public space and wildlife habitats for hundreds of existing and rare species, from kingfishers to otters.

The rest of Stratford will be transformed, with a £10 million improvement programme already under way to turn Stratford High Street into a Manhattan style boulevard.

The one-mile stretch – directly south of the Olympic Park – will be a major route to the Games. The investment by LTGDC will see the refurbishment of the former Stratford High Street Station building, with roads and pavements resurfaced, lighting improved, street furniture and railings removed and more than 3,500 shrubs and 70 trees planted.

Meanwhile, the Stratford Town Centre Public Realm Project will create new and improved public spaces and make the town centre a better place to shop, visit and do business. With Section 106 funding from Stratford City, from central government and the LDA, the project is proposing new public realm designs for key spaces: Meridian Square, the public transport gateway to Stratford; Theatre Square at the heart of the Cultural Quarter; the historic Broadway; Maryland Station, the point of arrival for Crossrail and National Rail; and the Railway Tree crossing. The project will also upgrade and improve areas surrounding the island at the centre of the one-way system, including the space around the Old Town Hall.

➳

32 spring2011

At the southern end of the Lower Lea Valley, Canning Town and Custom House is the focus of the sixth largest regeneration scheme in the UK.

LTGDC is helping to transform this deprived but well-connected area over the next 15 years, to attract £3.7 billion of investment. This will create up to 10,000 new and refurbished homes across all tenures. It will deliver 3,500 jobs, as well as two vibrant town centres, leisure and retail facilities, along with more green spaces of high quality, and greater opportunities for new and existing residents.

A vital part of this development will be a £600 million scheme by Bouygues at Canning Town, which will create 1,100 mixed tenure homes and around 60,000sq m of retail, offices and leisure facilities. The anchor retailer for the first phase is supermarket, Morrisons, whose 7,202sq m development will

include 172 residential units and associated parking. Work will start in 2012 with completion scheduled for summer 2014.

And English Cities Fund will create a 70,000sq m mixed-use development in neighbouring Rathbone Market, a crucial element in delivering the wider regeneration of the area.

Over an area of 6.3 hectares the scheme will include a 22-storey residential tower, retail, cafes, a market square, with improved pedestrian links and 659 new homes. The first phase is on-site and will deliver new shops and 271 new homes by summer 2012.

Meanwhile, Countryside Properties will shortly start construction on a development of 600 mixed tenure homes, together with the rebuilding of a primary school and community facilities, along with high quality open space.

www.eastmagazine.net 33

Hackney Wick and Fish Island, one of the Olympic Fringe masterplan areas, plays a key role in connecting the communities of Tower Hamlets and Hackney with the legacy development within the Olympic zone. Three miles from Canary Wharf, less than a mile from Stratford, the area of small industrial units and houses will be transformed into a thriving hub for creative businesses, building on the high concentration of designers, artists and galleries already colonising the cheap premises, while nurturing the remaining industries.

The area is in two halves: Hackney Wick, north of the Hertford Union Canal, is the more residential. Fish Island, to the south, is dominated by industrial use, including spectacular 19th-century warehouses. In the past decade, local industry has declined, with empty commercial units replaced by more than 600 studios, double those in artistic hot-spot Dalston. It remains among the most deprived 10% of areas in England.

Not actually an island, it feels like one: surrounded by canals, split by the London Overground, and cut off from London by the A12. However, through recent land acquisitions by LTGDC improved connections to the area

including improvements to the London Overground station, better walking and cycling connections, and two new bridges to provide direct access to the Olympic Park, will turn those barriers into gateways to the rest of London.

With new workspaces, housing, studios, galleries, cafes and shops Hackney Wick will become a high energy, diverse and well connected area. The plan is also for the 2012 International Broadcast Centre along with the Main Press Centre to become a creative district, offering residents a working lifestyle that can connect with the surrounding green space, the sports and entertainment venues, and local communities.

“Connecting London’s green belt to the Thames has been the holy grail of city planners since 1944.” So says Peter Andrews, chief executive of LTGDC. Lea River Park will deliver a 61-hectare green corridor, extending from the Thames in the south to Hertfordshire in the north. “The project will open up east London’s riverside to Londoners, creating a truly special place, while unlocking the huge regeneration potential within,” says Andrews.

The first phase will create a two-mile park from the Olympic Park to the Thames at East India Dock, connecting communities and unlocking the development potential of currently derelict sites with stunning

waterside settings. New footpaths and cycleways will tackle road, rail and river obstacles that have frustrated north and south movement.

The park’s backbone will be a route of footpaths, cycleways and bridges. Receiving planning permission in June 2010, with £15 million LTGDC funding, the parkland route was developed with London Development Agency (Design for London), the boroughs of Newham and Tower Hamlets, with British Waterways and Transport for London.

Phase one includes changes to open spaces at either end of the two-mile section. East India Dock Basin, the remaining section of this dock, will provide visitor attractions and enhanced habitats as a nature reserve. Three Mills Green will feature an events area, a sculpted viewing terrace and table tennis tables. The first phase will be completed in spring 2011.

A new lock and water control structures have been built at Prescott Channel and Three Mills Wall River. This will bring the waterways back into 24-hour use, enable water freight to use the river for Olympic Park construction, and ultimately for leisure pursuits. A water bus service from Limehouse Basin to the Olympic Park will start operating on the river in 2011.

As industrial land becomes available opportunities could arise for Abbey Mills, Twelve Trees Crescent, Leven Road and the Limmo site in Canning Town to become part of the Lea River Park.

➳

34 spring2011

Bromley by Bow is ripe for regeneration. This atmospheric area, comprised of under utilised light industrial units, boasts wonderful waterside settings and an important heritage, hosting Three Mills Studios, London’s largest film and television studio, as well as good transport connections. It is one of LTDGC’s priorities and over the next decade, regeneration will bring 3,400 new homes, 60,000sq m commercial space, and hundreds of new jobs, all thanks to £800 million of private sector investment.

In the north of the area, development had been hampered by land in multiple ownership. LTGDC negotiated an innovative agreement with Tesco, using its Compulsory Purchase powers to assemble land and ensure comprehensive development.

The new district centre will include a superstore (creating 200 additional jobs), 454 new homes, 22 retail and other outlets including business starter units, a library, a two-form entry primary school, 104-bed hotel and car park. The development will bring about safer connections for pedestrians, cyclists and cars, improving the Bromley by Bow station subway and creating a new pedestrian crossing over the A12. It will offer 50% of new jobs to local people who have been unemployed for more than six months.

Spurred on by Tesco’s involvement, the nearby Sugar House Lane site was bought by Inter IKEA Group’s LandProp Holdings. This is the largest land acquisition in the Olympic fringe area since Westfield’s purchase at Stratford, signifying that international investors place east London in poll position against other UK destinations. Currently occupied by vacant industrial buildings, the site has potential for 1,500 homes, in a mixed-use development generating significantly more jobs.

Meanwhile, neighbouring the Tesco scheme to the north of the area, East Thames, Southern Housing Group, and LTGDC are working on a key regeneration site next to the River Lea, with the aim of replacing derelict and underused former industrial buildings with a high quality mixed-use development, including up to 700 homes.

Describing the area as one of the most important regeneration challenges, Peter Andrews, LTGDC chief executive says: “Bromley by Bow is crying out for change and it’s now going to get it by 2012. Securing major development and investment will also act as a catalyst for the sustained renewal of the area.”

TOP: By 2012 a new district centre will be developed at Bromley by Bow, bringing jobs, homes, retail and community facilities.

visit swan.org.uk for further information or contact the development team on 0300 303 2500 to discuss partnership opportunities that can make a difference

INNOVATIVE HOMES DESIGNEDFOR TOMORROW’S LIFESTYLES

AND TECHNOLOGIES

Swan Housing Group is a dynamicdeveloping housing and regenerationagency with a commitment to deliveringhigh quality regeneration projectsthroughout Essex and East London.

� Embracing innovation and providingsolutions

� Sustainable developments and awareness

� Making positive changes for communities

� Delivering high quality homes throughoutthe Thames Gateway

SWN4297_EastAd_5 15/12/10 09:13 Page 1

36 spring 2011

Everyone knows that Mayfair, Soho and Covent Garden make up the West End. In east London, the names of Stratford, Bromley by Bow and Hackney Wick soon will become

just as familiar, according to Peter Andrews, chief executive of London Thames Gateway Development Corporation. He discusses the powerhouse at the eastern end

of central London with Siobhán Crozier

London’s hotspot heats up

www.eastmagazine.net 37

ooking out from Peter Andrews’ office in the heart of Docklands, you might think that east London’s development has been completed, save the odd crane on the remaining wharves. But the chief executive of London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC) sees a very different view: one packed with development potential, set to complement

the plate-glass prosperity of Canary Wharf. “It has taken 30 years,” says Andrews. “Since the Jubilee Line arrived, Canary Wharf has developed a critical mass, a tipping point. Look to the north and further east, it still needs public intervention.”

The Lower Lee Valley, from the Thames in the south to the 2012 Olympics site at Stratford, exemplifies the challenges and opportunities: the under utilised land of London’s old industries, where the challenge is to unlock sites to exploit them. LTGDC has mapped out its vision for a hotspot of opportunity, ripe for transformation, ready for jobs, homes and investment. London’s key economic transformers are right here: Stratford City, Canary Wharf and world class entertainment venue, The o2 arena, with the ExCeL exhibition centre and London City Airport in the east, the Olympic Park sits at the centre of this hotspot. The area has impressive public transport connections with more to come. It is unique in having its own airport and a global financial services centre, all a huge spur for development, as Stratford City and the Olympic Park are being built.

“East London is emerging as a high quality mixed-use district, set in unrivalled parkland landscape and waterways, anchored by the Olympic Park. It’s going to be a very special place,” Andrews says. “We’re connecting it up, unlocking sites for future development and ensuring that they contribute to realising our vision for the area. This vision is untrammelled even in the midst of the UK’s slow recovery from recession.”

“This tough climate is all the more reason to focus on areas which are going to make the biggest impact to the UK economy – backing the winners with the focus on delivering transformative change,” thinks Andrews. East London has proved more durable than other UK regions and is expected to outperform them when growth resumes. “There’s an opportunity to leverage investment in the Olympic Park so that the Lower Lea Valley reaches that tipping point.” Andrews knows it works: every pound of public money LTGDC has spent has leveraged £6 of private sector investment.

Future growth in east London is the basis for London maintaining its global pre-eminence. “There’s nowhere else for London to expand,” he adds. Andrews is also confident of LTGDC’s ability to maintain the momentum of regeneration and realise its area’s economic potential. And east London’s potential is considerable. Oxford Economics’ research shows that from 2000 to 2008 this area generated

one in four new jobs in London. It accounts for 10% of London’s total employment and 11.5% of its total GVA. “Equally it will continue to grow faster than the rest of London, making a significant contribution to the city’s economy, which makes a huge contribution to the national economy,” Andrews says. “In terms of tax revenues we’re actually a gross contributor to the UK as a whole.”

Reasons to invest in east London remain compelling and Andrews’ seriousness in attracting inward investment is demonstrated by LTGDC’s marketing centre, the View, next to Bow Flyover. It offers vistas of the Olympic Park, down the Lea Valley to Canary Wharf, across to ExCeL, and west to the City. “People popping up at Canary Wharf on the Jubilee Line are realising the opportunities around the area,” says Andrews. “As London’s development moves inexorably east, these areas are joining together, creating a contiguous pattern of regeneration.” There are emerging opportunity areas here: “In proximity to the Olympic Park and the international broadcast and media centre, south of Stratford High Street, we want Hackney Wick to develop as London’s new hub for creative businesses,” he says.

“The jewel in the crown is around Three Mills Lock,” Andrews thinks. “With private sector occupiers and developers, the area will be redeveloped to a quality that rivals the Olympic Park. Canning Town’s £600 million retail led town centre development scheme is moving forward enormously and we’re about to see buildings coming out of the ground. We’ve secured Bouygues as our development partner for the second largest scheme in the UK and Morrisons as an anchor retail partner. In time, you’ll see a new Lea River Park providing a connection from the Olympic Park down to the Thames, encouraging further high quality developments.”

Better designed buildings in an improved environment are only part of the success story. “We’ve got to exploit the opportunity for the community’s benefit,” concludes Peter Andrews. “The Olympics casts a welcome spotlight on development opportunities, but the stampede is happening already: with historic low values but excellent prospects for growth, there has never been a better time to be a part of east London’s future.”

Peter Andrews’ CV

2005 chief executive, LTGDC 2003 CEO, Swindon’s urban regeneration company1996 European managing director, Tishman International 1992 director of Dwyer PLC1989 development director, Winglaw Group1986 Bankers Trust Company1981 Warburg Investment Management1980 BSc (Hons) in urban land economics

“East London is emerging as a high quality mixed-use district, set in unrivalled parkland landscape and waterways, anchored by the Olympic Park. It’s going to be a very special place”

11

of delegates at SocInvest 2010

said the event met their objectives

“extremely well” or “well”.

75%said the coverage of regeneration

issues was “extremely good”

or “good”.

76%said they took away ideas and

information that would help

them with funding initiatives.

69%

� e premier regeneration fi nance and funding event

took place in London on June 16, 2010,

attended by 160 senior regeneration executives

from the public and private sectors across

the UK.

Comments included:“Good selection of

speakers and issues covered”

“Flowed well and kept interest going all day”

“Excellent day - great mix of subjects and

speakers”

SocInvest returns in 2011 for the fourth year running. Can you aff ord

to miss out?

Keep track of the developing programme at www.SocInvest.co.ukand subscribe there to

the monthly newsletter and research projects.

11

of delegates at SocInvest 2010

said the event met their objectives

“extremely well” or “well”.

75%said the coverage of regeneration

issues was “extremely good”

or “good”.

76%said they took away ideas and

information that would help

them with funding initiatives.

69%

� e premier regeneration fi nance and funding event

took place in London on June 16, 2010,

attended by 160 senior regeneration executives

from the public and private sectors across

the UK.

Comments included:“Good selection of

speakers and issues covered”

“Flowed well and kept interest going all day”

“Excellent day - great mix of subjects and

speakers”

SocInvest returns in 2011 for the fourth year running. Can you aff ord

to miss out?

Keep track of the developing programme at www.SocInvest.co.ukand subscribe there to

the monthly newsletter and research projects.

www.eastmagazine.net 39

WithitsoWnairportandanetWorklinkingtheUndergroUnd,

eastlondonlineanddocklandslightrailWay,eastlondonis

alreadyWell-servedbypUblictransport.itbenefitshUgelyfrom

theimprovementsinpreparationforlondon2012.andthere’scrossrailto

come,asGeoff fordhamreports

continued overleaf ➳

40 spring 2011

NThe extension of the Jubilee line in 1999 is seen as the catalyst in the regeneration of east London.

www.eastmagazine.net 41

FAR LEFT: Canary Wharf Crossrail station.CENTRE: The Royal Docks with ExCeL London and City Airport.

BELOW: New cycling and walking routes are part of transport plans.BOTTOM: The Docklands Light Railway.

Canary Wharf - The ultimate lifestyle in the London Thames Gateway

www.canarywharf.com

www.eastmagazine.net 43

Just what makes east London a business hotspot? Looking out onto the Olympic site from LTGDC’s marketing suite, The View, six leading businessmen share their inspiration with LTGDC’s head of economic development

View from

the top

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 Simon Bennett, head of stakeholder management at Crossrail2 Gordon d’Silva, founder and chief executive of charity, Training for Life3 Howard dawBer, strategic adviser at Canary Wharf Group 4 CHriS danielS, head of London 2012 Activation, Lloyds Banking Group 5 Jon lane, business development director, BT’s London 2012 team 6 JoHn middleton, chair, LTGDC’s head of economic development 7 JonatHan danielS, development director at Westfield ➳

44 spring2011

CHAIR What are the essential ingredients that established Canary Wharf and made it so successful?

HD The government was trying to sell the old docks for industrial use, and a banker came looking for space for a food factory. He decided it was a very bad place to put a food factory, but a great place to build giant trading floors for banks. It took somebody coming from outside London to see the opportunity to create things on a much bigger scale, and faster, than anywhere else near Central London, where there just isn’t the space.

CHAIR How critical was getting the Jubilee line established?HD The Docklands Light Railway was a clever and cheap

re-purposing of existing railway infrastructure. The Jubilee Line made the difference between 25,000 people 10 years ago and 100,000 people now. It brought Canary Wharf much closer into the London transport network – 15 minutes to Westminster – and is changing people’s perceptions of where the Isle of Dogs and east London is.

JD The transport infrastructure here [Stratford] is bloody good. We thought that Westfield London’s [White City] transport infrastructure was good, but this is better and it’s only going to improve further.

CHAIR How important was the transport for Stratford for your decision making for Stratford City?

JD It was fundamental, absolutely critical to knit that

transport right into what we have got, just as at Canary Wharf.

CD What difference did the Olympics make?JD Firstly, it shortened the time frame from a 20-year

masterplan to six years, and secondly caused a re-think on design and infrastructure. It was very challenging but also did us a favour, shifting the utilities that clearly needed to move, and would have taken longer without the Olympics.

SB Exactly the same thing happened for us. We had proposals to re-build Stratford station, to extend platforms, to re-build the station entrance and put in the bridge, which is already in as part of Crossrail. All this just went into the Olympics pot and is already more or less done.

CHAIR What does Crossrail add in travel times to east London?

SB It massively increases the capacity on a section where the underground is currently full to bursting. It uses larger and longer trains and operates them on a higher frequency.

CHAIR How important is City Airport – is that a big business asset?

HD City Airport is great because it is 10 minutes from Canary Wharf. Being able to say that there is an international airport down the road that will get you to New York twice a day is fantastic for us.

www.eastmagazine.net 45

“We need to put the infrastructure where the demand is going to come from. Crossrail, Westfield and City Airport … this is going to be a really major hub over the next few decades. We want to make that investment now, so that everyone has that next-generation fibre access”

CHAIR What attracted BT to become so involved in east London?

JL We need to put the infrastructure where the demand is going to come from. Crossrail, Westfield and City Airport make us sure that this is going to be a really major hub over the next few decades. We want to make that investment now, so that everyone has that next-generation fibre access.

CHAIR With those transport structures and utilities, what are the conditions like for entrepreneurs or social entrepreneurs in east London?

GD’S From a social entrepreneur’s perspective, the challenge for companies coming in is to complement their core business activity with the social investment needs of the communities they’re servicing.Historically, corporate business has been an island away from social investment. I think here there is such an opportunity to bring those two together.

CHAIR Lloyds runs a billion pound fund for small business and entrepreneurs. Chris, how is it going? How might it relate to east London?

CD At the moment, we have got to about 1,500 direct contracts awarded to London 2012. We are funding a third of those, which is a lot more than our market share. We are committing about £1 billion to the supply chain. It’s very important – particularly as a bank with a reasonable government loan – to have social responsibility. We are doing a lot of work with business in the community, and are funding the East London Small Business Centre.

CHAIR East London is booming but how do we make sure that everyone in east London benefits?

GD’S I have been regenerating community-owned buildings and putting training and social businesses in them, in a social enterprise business park. ➳

LEFT: Jon Lane (left) and Jonathan Daniels.LEFT BELOW: Chris Daniels (left) and John Middleton.

46 spring2011

It brings together anchor tenants (be it corporate or social enterprise), and providing for both the financial and social impact return, such as fiscal regeneration, job creation, training, apprenticeships, and maybe re-investment of some of the profits. If you get together a lot of people, you can do it.

CD On the legacy, if you’ve got this amazing park where everyone wants to live, there could be conflict with the area surrounding it – one of the most deprived in Europe. We have to make sure there’s not this isolated bubble of growth and gentrification, but that it fits into the whole area.

HD Sarkozy sent a couple of his ministers to find out why the people who live around Canary Wharf don’t throw bricks through the windows. This is what had just happened in Paris. We took them on a tour of the ‘deprived’ local area. At the end, they said: ‘Well, those areas can’t be deprived. We didn’t see a single empty shop.’ There is an amazing entrepreneurial spirit in the Cockney community, and all the new communities that have come into London over the past 30 years. We have one of the highest levels of small business creation. It is harnessing that entrepreneurial spirit with the big businesses that is our real next challenge.

GD’S Things are changing, but there is still a journey to go around training. The best way to work with individuals who have been disengaged from the learning process is to engage them in practical learning. But where is this all going to come from? The third sector, bless our cotton socks, is not going to do it. The challenge of ‘big society’ and of business is how to convert more entrepreneurs into social entrepreneurs.

CHAIR How is 2012 changing perceptions as the travel time is being changed?

HD Over the past 25 years you’ve got the DLR and Jubilee line, ExCeL, Canary Wharf... and now Westfield, 2012, the airport, Queen Mary University expanding, UEL moving to Docklands, The O2, and

Crossrail on the way. That has been a fundamental change in the economic geography of this part of east London. That has raised aspirations so you have a generation of young people who expect a share of those opportunities.

JD The creative industries have been very useful for getting east London a tag. One in five jobs are in the creative industry, and east London is a real hotspot.

HD Over the last 20 years, Canary Wharf has created a place – it’s not just buildings: a place is built around people and activity. The Olympics will certainly bring people and activity, which would not normally have been here.

SB Each Crossrail station will be a catalyst for other things to happen. We’re working with local authorities about what they want outside stations. There will be a little improvement to the urban realm at every station.

JL The O2 is a good example. It [became] the place to go and watch a concert – it’s fabulous. We need things like that – a bit like the Westfield facility and your anchor tenant situation – which drag everything else along with it.

CHAIR When you’re pitching to business or government, what do you say makes east London such a great investment?

JD It’s the massive opportunity – four million people, great infrastructure which is getting better, with significant under-provision of retail schemes of this nature. We are in the capital city of the UK, one of the best capital cities in the world, and in that environment, east London is completely unparalleled.

GD’S To achieve legacy, the companies coming in should be profitable and successful, and to understand that for them to go on being successful, there is a civil society out there that needs to be taken with them.

HD There are very few better or more exciting places on the planet to do business.

GD’S Can I bottle this passion? It is wonderful!

“Sarkozy sent a couple of his ministers to find out why the people who live around Canary Wharf don’t throw bricks through the windows. ... They said, “Those areas can’t be deprived. We didn’t see a single empty shop”

RIGHT: Simon Bennet, head of stakeholder managment at Crossrail.FAR RIGHT: Chris Daniels, head of London 2012 Activation with Lloyds Banking Group.

Bringing Ideas to Life

Telephone: 01279 873 333sales@weston-homes.comwww.weston-homes.com

With a fi ercely guarded reputation for superior construction across the property spectrum, from city style apartment complexes to individual houses, new build and restoration, Weston Homes is committed to

providing high quality housing for all levels of society. With current projects in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, East Sussex and Surrey, Weston Homes is

well positioned to offer a unique, high specifi cation luxury home, and we are confi dent that you will have your every day expectation surpassed.

New MerciaNew MerciaNew MerciaNew MerciaThe

Barringtons

HAWKINSWHARF

HOUSEBU

ILDER

OF T

HE YEA

R 201

0

48 spring 2011

LONDON’S HOTSPOT: EAST LONDON

THE FACTS

www.eastmagazine.net 49

Over

300languages

arespoken

£30mSiemens Pavilion at

Royal Docks

ExCeL London’s

£165mexpansion, the International

Convention Centre

£21bn

21%

East London accounts for

of the creative workforce jobs in London and

24% of the creative businesses

1_3

More than of the workforce has a degree

�East�London�and�the�London�Sustainable�Industries�Park�are�core�to�the�Mayor’s�Green�Enterprise�District,�creating�up�to 6,000 new�jobs�

Population of

2.8million

nearly 40% ofLondon’s total

Lea River Park, 61 hectares of open space, will be London’s

largest public park in over 100 years

For further information please contact:

www.havering-college.ac.uk/business

ADVICE & GUIDANCE. THRESHOLD SERVICES

01708 462800information@havering-college.ac.ukHavering College of Further and Higher EducationArdleigh Green Campus, Ardleigh Green Road, Hornchurch, Essex RM11 2LL

Business Services

Apprenticeships ensure that your workforcehas the practical skills and qualifications yourorganisation needs now and in the future.

Over 130,000 companies offer apprentice

places because they understand the benefits

that apprentices bring to their business:

● Fill your skills gaps

● Increased productivity

● Improved competitiveness

● A committed, motivated and

competent work-force

● Improved bottom line

Working in partnershipHavering College is ideally placed in the

Thames Gateway region to work in

partnership with your organisation, offering

high quality low cost training solutions from

the most junior entry points to advanced

higher level skills and higher education,

learning on and off site, full or part-time.

Contact our Business Services team today to ensure your company has the skills you need for tomorrow.

The mixture of on and off job learning ensures they learn theskills that work best for your business.

C58.50180 Business Services Ad 19/11/2010 15:41 Page 1

www.eastmagazine.net 51

EastLondonisusingitstimEinthEspotLighttoEquipitsrEsidEntswiththEquaLifications,skiLLsandaspirationsthEynEEdtocompEtEintoday’sjobmarkEt,andtosatisfyEmpLoyErs’nEEds,writEsPamela Buxtoncontinued overleaf ➳

52 spring2011

ever has education been so important to the residents of east London.

As one part of the unprecedented economic activity in east London, in 2013 Stratford will have a landmark new higher

education centre spearheaded by the University of East London (UEL) and Birkbeck, University of London.

The new shared building, with its working title of Stratford Island University Centre, is a coup for the area, creating modern teaching facilities and new adult learning opportunities. Construction will start in 2011, and when it opens in autumn 2013 it will educate over 3,000 students a year.

“We’re very committed to the area,” says UEL’s Vice Chancellor Patrick McGhee. “It’s part of our mission to provide education for those in the local community. Having an opportunity to do that in an area that is changing rapidly is very important.”

Birkbeck has been active in Stratford since 2006, and already offers 33 University of London courses currently being taught on the UEL campus. The College specialises in flexible part-time, evening study, at both introductory and degree level.

With its excellent transport links across London and beyond, the Stratford location provides both universities with a very large catchment area of potential students.

The Stratford building is the first new base for Birkbeck away from its central London campus, which has already seen an increase in students from east London on courses not yet available in Stratford. “This is a major strategic priority for us, and already it’s proving to be a successful project,” says Master of Birkbeck, Professor David Latchman CBE.

The eye-catching, five-storey building includes a student centre – that will act as a one-stop-shop for students from both institutions – a learning resources facility, lecture theatre, IT suites and other teaching and learning facilities.

UEL’s Law Department, currently located in another building in Stratford, and its Institute for Performing Arts Development will both move into the new facility.

Located on a development site currently used for car parking, the new building will be in one corner of Stratford’s Cultural Quarter, home to the Stratford Picture House, the Stratford Circus arts centre and the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

The new building will provide rehearsal space, which will help the local theatres increase the number of shows they present and also create opportunities to develop revenue-generating initiatives.

The universities are conferring to ensure that their courses complement rather than compete. “It’s unique in Higher Education to find two universities, which could be seen to be competitors, coming together for the benefit of Londoners,” say Latchman and McGhee, in unison.

The £33 million project was supported by LTGDC, who paid for some of the development costs, provided a £4 million grant towards the construction costs and gave planning consent.

“Universities are important drivers and catalysts of regeneration. They reinforce the identity of a place, and drive up skills to support business needs. This new centre in Stratford delivers on both of these points,” says LTGDC chief executive Peter Andrews.

Furthermore, research shows that once students graduate they often stay in the same area, so their newly acquired skills are used to benefit the local economy.

The types of jobs in east London have dramatically changed in the last few years. The docks on the Isle of Dogs used to

employ 100,000 people, mainly in manual work. Canary Wharf employs the same number of people but in mainly white-collar work within financial or business services.

Customer service is also at the forefront of new employment in east London, whether at City Airport or at the International Convention Centre at ExCeL London. When the Stratford City retail centre opens in 2011 another 9,000 customer service jobs will have been created.

Competition to secure one of these jobs has never been higher. Canary Wharf businesses employ candidates from across the globe, and the excellent transport networks mean that talented individuals from a wide area apply for all types of work in east London.

John Middleton, Head of Economic Development at LTGDC, says, “It is essential, given local economic dynamics, that local residents have the right qualifications, skills and aspirations to effectively compete in our job market.”

This has to begin with schools. In east London GCSE exam results are improving fast, 5% per annum, that’s four times the national average.

One example is the newly constructed £28 million Rokeby School in Canning

www.eastmagazine.net 53

Town, which opened in 2010. The number of students gaining five GCSE grades A-C has increased from 16% in 2005 to 64% in 2010; a transformation in standards in readiness for their exciting new building.

St Paul’s Way Trust School specialises in science and has Project Faraday status in recognition of its approach, standards and facilities. At GCSE level 46% of pupils got grades A-C in 2010, up from 29% the previous year. Also their new theatre, art gallery, sports and library facilities are at the heart of community-based initiatives to unleash local entrepreneurial talent.

The National Skills Academy for Financial Services is located close to Canary Wharf, in neighbouring Poplar. It provides a bridge between employers and the local community, one of the poorest in the UK.

In its state-of-the-art, award-winning building, the Academy runs employment skills courses designed around the needs of Canary Wharf and City employers. It has already helped 500 people into employment by improving their skill levels, expanding their networks and raising their aspirations.

With east London as the focus of the Mayor of London’s ambitions to locate a concentration of clean tech businesses within a Green Enterprise District, the need for high-quality, ‘green collar skills’ are also at a premium.

“East London has already secured major investment from green businesses, and getting the right skills available locally will help us secure even more,” says Ian Short, chief executive of The Institute for Sustainability, based in Canary Wharf.

To really change educational achievement and aspiration, says Middleton, head teachers need to be effective leaders, as well as having a vision and focus for change. Uniquely, LTGDC has used its own resources to support inspiring head teachers deliver their strategies for change. So far 25 different schools across east London have benefited from LTGDC support.

This includes schools such as Eastlea in Canning Town and Eastbury in Barking. Their new headteachers have been successful in driving forward ambitious agendas, so that their schools have now become centres of excellence in sports science, hospitality and catering.

“There’s a direct economic benefit which arises from having really good schools. They keep families in the area, they support existing businesses and they help secure new investors,” says Middleton.

Thanks to improving education standards, a new generation of young people, with newly acquired qualifications, improved skills and raised aspirations, are ready to grasp the many opportunities present in east London.

“It’s unique ... to find two universities, which could be seen to be competitors, coming together for the benefit of Londoners”

LEFT and BELOW LEFT: Facilities at the Financial Services Academy. CENTRE and PREVIOUS PAGE: Birkbeck College and the University of East London will share a new centre in Stratford.

RIGHT: The National Skills Academy for Financial Services is based at Tower Hamlets College in Poplar.BELOW: St Paul’s Way pupils, Samuel and Latifah, in the lab.

contacts

54 spring 2011

EDITOR: Siobhán Crozier FEATURES EDITOR: Alex Aspinall ART DIRECTOR: Terry Hawes ADVERTISEMENT SALES: Paul Gussar PRODUCTION MANAGER: Rachael Scho�eld OFFICE MANAGER: Sue Mapara MANAGING DIRECTOR: Toby Fox

IMAGES: LTGDC, ExCeL London, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Thames Gateway Power, Siemens plc, The O2, © Port of London Authority collection/Museum of London, Transport for London, Canary Wharf Group plc, Crossrail, Birkbeck, Tower Hamlets College, © London City Airport 2010, London 2012, West�eld Group, Olympic Park Legacy Company

PRINTED BY: Manson

© 3Fox International Limited 2011. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of 3Fox International Limited is strictly forbidden. The greatest care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of information in this magazine at time of going to press, but we accept no responsibility for omissions or errors. The views expressed in this magazineare not necessarily those of 3Fox International Limited or London Thames Gateway Development Corporation.

PUBLISHED BY:

Lower Ground Floor, 189 Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TB T: 020 7978 6840 F: 020 7978 6837 Subscriptions and feedback: www.eastmagazine.net

For contacts and feedback visit www.eastmagazine.net

{the changing face of east London}

London’s hotspot:EAST LONDON

East London is set to contribute

an additional £21bn a year to London’s economy.

www.ltgdc.org.uk

Get the scoop on the hottest

development spots in the capital.

http://www.rathbonemarket.com