East Magazine Issue 2

Westfield opens for business New DLR link Olympic legacy housing plans www.eastmagazine.net

London’s hotspot: East London issue two_2011

Bright FUtUrEThe schemes lighting up east London

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YOU

2012 Olympic event area of up to 2.5 ha available For more information go to 2012.landprop.eu

Strand East is an exciting new development project that will transform 10 hectares of a post industrial land in Stratford, East London, into a thriving new city neighbourhood with:

_ 50,000 square metres of commercial space_ 1,200 homes of which 40% will have 3 bedrooms or more_ A 350 bedroom Courtyard by Marriott hotel_ Community facilities_ Open public spaces

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news 04News and updates on current projects

olympic village 09A deal has been signed that will see Delancey and Qatari Diar take over the management of the Olympic Village

the new stratford 11The London 2012 Olympics are not the only game in town – Stratford is evolving rapidly into a new commercial and retail centre, with excellent transport links

fdi round table 16London is a magnet for foreign direct investment – but what draws global players? Peter Andrews of London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC) invites major international investors to discuss their vision for east London

tech city 23High-tech businesses now form a significant cluster, expanding out from Shoreditch into opportunity areas such as Hackney Wick, where a supply of premises awaits budding technology entrepreneurs

olympics sponsors 26Not just here for the beer – Olympics sponsors are major investors in east London. We take a look at what their millions will deliver for businesses and communities beyond the Games

map 34Key to the city: map of some of the major developments under way in east London

projects 36Updates on the main development projects – we consider how big, how much investment, who is involved and what will be delivered

head to head 41Andrew Altman of the Olympic Park Legacy Company and LTGDC’s Peter Andrews discuss what has been achieved in east London – and what’s still to come sustainability 46What infrastructure is needed to deliver a greener neighbourhood? What will a sustainable community look like in 2050? We look at ground-breaking initiatives led by the Institute for Sustainability

contacts 50For contacts and feedback visit www.eastmagazine.net

issue two_2011

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04 winter 2011

Westfield Stratford City welcomed one million people through its doors in the first week following its September opening. The £1.45 billion shopping centre at the gateway to the Olympic Park is anchored by leading retailers John Lewis, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer. It hosts more than 300 shops, including the Apple Store, and 70 dining options along with the Great Eastern Market food market. Leisure operators include the All Star Lanes bowling alley, a 17-screen all-digital Vue cinema and there are three hotels. With 177,000sq m of retail and leisure provision, it is Europe’s largest urban shopping centre.

“We are overwhelmed by the response from our consumers,” said Michael Gutman, managing director for Westfield UK/Europe. “In the first seven days more than one million people visited, and the transport infrastructure, both road and rail, performed superbly.”

A new generation of artists and designers was commissioned to design lights, centre management and concierge uniforms, art installations and an environmental innovation, following a Studio East project last year with a panel including Tracey Emin, Tom Dixon, Roland Mouret and Erin O’Connor. Other art and design elements include a digital fountain by local and international artist Jason Bruges Studio, positioned at the heart of Chestnut Plaza.

At least 2,000 of the 10,000 jobs created at Westfield went to local residents. Ultimately the scheme will provide employment for 18,000 when fully built. Westfield has also provided local grants and established the Skills Place – Newham, a retail academy with a focus on providing employment for the local community.

Names for five neighbourhoods planned for the site of the Olympic Park after the London 2012 Games have been decided, after 2,000 residents put forward suggestions.

Chobham Manor, between the Velodrome and the Athletes Village, will be the first neighbourhood to be developed, with 800 new homes, community and ancillary facilities including a polyclinic, two nurseries and a community centre.

The four other neighbourhoods are: East Wick, next to Hackney Wick; Sweetwater, near Old Ford; Marshgate Wharf, between Stratford City and the Stadium; and Pudding Mill, in and around Pudding Mill Lane station.

What’s in a name?

www.eastmagazine.net 05

London on track for Olympics legacy

The new Docklands Light Railway extension to Stratford International has opened, a year ahead of the London 2012 Games. The route serves existing stops at Canning Town, West Ham and Stratford, and new stations at Stratford High Street, Abbey Road and Star Lane (pictured).

The service will help bring new residential, retail and leisure development to the area, and increase employment opportunities in east London. It will also form a crucial link during the London 2012 Games, serving the heart of the Olympic Park.

The route complements other transport upgrades in Stratford, including improved underground and surface rail services, plus high speed train links from Stratford International to St Pancras Station and Europe.

East London schools continue to make rapid progress towards excellence, GCSE results this year revealed. And St Paul’s Way Trust School in Tower Hamlets is leading the way.

The school saw passes in science rise from 29% to 47% in one year for double or triple awards. It is predicted that 60% of students will gain at least a double award in science in 2011. And director of learning Asma Rahman confidently predicted that, by 2013, pupils will exceed the 60% GCSE A*-C target set.

St Paul’s underwent a £40 million renovation, helped by a £1 million grant from London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, to make it the first Faraday Science School in London. The Faraday Project seeks to promote innovative ways of teaching science. These include using the latest technology and resources, in new state-of-the-art laboratories, and taking the pupils out of the school

Top of the class

environment altogether. A further £15,000 from LTDGC

funded a new rooftop garden for biology studies, which was opened by Professor Brian Cox in June 2011. TV star Cox also gave the inaugural lecture in the school’s new theatre (pictured), which – along with its art gallery and sports facilities – is for the whole community to use.

Rokeby had another successful year, with 64% of pupils gaining A*-C grades at GCSE in 2010. LTGDC invested in sports facilities and built links with East London Business Alliance, improving students’ attractiveness to City and Canary Wharf employers. As part of its £3 million investment, LTGDC’s support for Canning Town’s Eastlea Community School contributed towards building a centre for teaching excellence supported by industry, with a new hospitality and catering suite, and an enterprise cafe.

London is on track to achieve a positive regeneration legacy from the London 2012 Games, according to University of Westminster research commissioned by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The research concludes that London’s strong position, compared to previous host cities, such as Sydney and Barcelona, could be explained by the choice of site, which provided good opportunities for regeneration.

The involvement of many different stakeholders and unequivocal support from the UK government have also contributed. It was found that building on existing regeneration projects strengthened London’s prospects for a successful Olympic legacy. There are aspirations for the wider area beyond the Olympic Park, with a strong focus on social, economic and physical regeneration.

The project to transform east London involves ambitious plans set within a challenging economic climate. The report suggests the success of aspirations to use the Games to deliver urban regeneration in east London will ultimately depend on delivering social and economic development more widely, rather than merely transforming the Olympic Park.

Dr Andrew Smith, senior lecturer in the School of Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of Westminster, said: “The scale of ambition means success is not guaranteed, but work by the various agencies involved has provided a good platform from which to develop a positive regeneration legacy.”

06 winter 2011

Tower completes Canary Wharf masterplanCanary Wharf ’s latest tower has its first occupier: the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has signed a pre-let agreement with Canary Wharf Group.

The deal covers 23,225sq m of the 46,450sq m building to be built at 25 Churchill Place, with EMA occupying the promenade, ground and the first nine office floors of the 20-storey building from January 2015 for at least 25 years. A 37-month rent-free period will fund EMA’s fit-out of the building. The balance of the space will be marketed by Canary Wharf Group as construction progresses.

The new tower will complete development of the original Canary Wharf masterplan. Construction work was due to start in autumn 2011.

This will be one of the estate’s most energy-efficient office buildings, with lifts which store energy for reuse elsewhere in the building, ultra-efficient air-conditioning which recycles the energy from exhaust air, and photovoltaic cells to generate energy from the sun’s rays. The building will also have a green roof to enhance biodiversity and energy efficiency. Not surprisingly, it will achieve an excellent BREEAM environmental performance rating and an Energy Performance Certificate rating of 40 or better.

Construction of the building’s shell, core and fit-out will be by Canary Wharf Group, and the architect is Kohn Pederson Fox Associates.

Bids for park homes

The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) has invited bids to build the Olympic Park’s first neighbourhood.

Chobham Manor will see traditional terraced and mews houses set within tree-lined avenues, helping to address the need for larger homes with 70% of the 800 homes offering family housing. In addition, 40% of the new homes will be houses with gardens.

The area will also have a health centre, two nurseries, two community spaces, neighbourhood shops and the nearby Chobham Academy school.

OPLC chief executive Andrew Altman said: “Chobham Manor will set the standard for high-quality design as the first neighbourhood on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.”

Barking apprentice opens

The social enterprise behind the Shoreditch Hoxton Apprentice restaurant has opened the Barking Apprentice. Owner, Training For Life, is a charity that helps people back into employment. The restaurants serve great food at affordable prices, while training people in skills to secure employment. The restaurants are managed by industry professionals and staffed partly by trainees.Profits are reinvested to help unemployed people. The Hoxton Apprentice has trained over 150 apprentices, of whom over 70% have obtained jobs, some in London’s top restaurants and hospitality groups.

Creatives head east Hackney Wick’s new creative hub gained impetus in August 2011, when London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC) submitted redevelopment plans for a 0.6-ha site. Building on an existing cluster of creative industries, the plans include 6,000sq m of affordable and flexible workspace, to meet demand from tech start-ups looking for space in east London.

Spaces will be rent-a-desk, shared incubator space and larger units. The application includes up to 130 flats, 1,596sq m of retail for a convenience store, cafes, bars and restaurants and 1,820sq m of public open space. LTGDC, Transport for London and Network Rail plan improvements to Hackney Wick Station, relocating the entrance, creating a new ticket hall at ground level, improving stairs and lift access and adding a new pedestrian cycle connection underneath the railway line.

Bridge extends towpath A new bridge now provides a traffic-free link to the Olympic Park, connecting it with other towpath routes. The £2.4 million scheme, funded by London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and delivered by British Waterways, opens a safe route under the A11/12 crossing, reconnecting the River Lea Navigation towpath to create over 28 miles of travel for walkers and cyclists from the Thames to the Olympic Park.

The 16 metre-long bridge was built in Huddersfield by CTS Bridges. British Waterways’ Mark Blackwell said: “The bridge will connect to a suspended pathway, creating a ‘fly-under’ of the busy road junction. Pedestrians and cyclists no longer need to leave the towpath to cross.”

LTGDC’s Julia Brion said: “Getting the towpaths in active and popular use will encourage more people to get to know east London, stimulating additional development activity to drive and sustain a waterside renaissance. Improved access and linkages could see restaurants, shops, cafes and other amenities coming together to create a new Camden of the east.”

Committed to delivering a vibrant new neighbourhood and long term legacy for LondonQDD, the joint venture between Delancey and Qatari Diar, and Triathlon Homes are proud to be playing a part in the transformation of East London.

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http://www.delancey.co.uk

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REGENERATION IN EAST LONDON

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1 THE INTERNATIONAL QUARTER, STRATFORD CITYThe International Quarter lies at the heart of Stratford City, a new metropolitan centre for London. A world class development, less than ten minutes from central London on the 700 acre site of the regenerated Olympic Park.

£1.3 billion project by Lend Lease and London & Continental Railways

4 million sq ft of Grade A office space

350 new homes and 275,000 sq ft hotel

22 acre site of which 3 acres will be civic and open space

First commercial occupancy projected for 2014

2 CHOBHAM ACADEMY, STRATFORDLend Lease is the Principal Sponsor of Chobham Academy, with the Harris Federation appointed as the Educational Lead. Chobham Academy, on the Olympic Village site, puts an educational legacy at the heart of the regeneration ambitions for east London.

1,800 student places

Opens September 2013

Pupils aged 3-18 years

Specialise in Performing Arts, English and focus on sports

3&4 GREENWICH PENINSULA, LONDONGreenwich Peninsula is the intelligent location for business and pleasure. Minutes from the City, Canary Wharf and City Airport, Greenwich Peninsula is a fully mixed use regeneration project and exciting new London district.

£5 billion project by Lend Lease and Quintain Estates & Developments Plc

3.5 million sq ft of Grade A flexible office space

10,000 new homes

350,000 sq ft retail and leisure

600 bedroom 4* hotel with London’s largest ballroom

www.lendlease.com

As organisations look to become greener and reduce their office operational costs, they will look to the environmental and price point advantages that emerging locations like Stratford and Greenwich can offer.

KEVIN CHAPMAN, HEAD OF OFFICE DEVELOPMENT, LEND LEASE

8903 LL Info Pod Advert_297x230_AW.indd 1 14/11/2011 10:39

http://www.lendlease.com


A £557 million deal, signed between the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and a joint venture of property investors Delancey and Qatari Diar, agreed the purchase and long-term management of the Olympic Village.

Of 2,818 new homes planned for the village, 1,379 have already been purchased by joint venture Triathlon Homes as high-quality affordable housing. Delancey and Qatari Diar will acquire the ODA’s interests in the remaining 1,439 homes for private housing, along with six adjacent development plots with potential for a further 2,000 new homes. The deal includes profit-share arrangements for the public sector.

The majority of private homes will be rented out, with ownership remaining with the Delancey and Qatari Diar joint venture. This will create the first UK private sector residential fund of over 1,000 homes to be owned and directly managed as an investment.

Mohammed bin Ali Al Hedfa, group CEO of Qatari Diar, said: “Qatari Diar looks forward to working to ensure that the Olympic Village becomes a fitting legacy to the London 2012 Games, and one that will benefit the local communities. Our commitment to the UK market and to building long-term relationships with our partners and the wider community is of paramount importance to us to ensure that we leave a positive cultural, environmental and sustainable footprint.”

Jamie Ritblat, chief executive of Delancey, said: “This acquisition reflects the first truly great residential investment opportunity in the UK; offering the chance to break the mould and create a sustainable leasing model to provide first class accommodation for those who see the chance to rent long-term as the way forward.”

ODA chief executive Dennis Hone said: “This deal secures two leading property investors with the experience and expertise needed to make the village one of the strongest legacies from the London 2012 Games. The village will deliver the best of city living all in one place.”

Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for culture, olympics, media and sport, said: “This is a fantastic deal that will give taxpayers a great return and shows how we are securing a legacy from the Games. The village will be the centrepiece of a new vibrant east London community and I am confident that these experienced property investors will deliver a modern, spacious neighbourhood that will contribute hugely to the regeneration of the area, including the provision of much needed new housing.”

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REGENERATION IN EAST LONDON

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1 THE INTERNATIONAL QUARTER, STRATFORD CITYThe International Quarter lies at the heart of Stratford City, a new metropolitan centre for London. A world class development, less than ten minutes from central London on the 700 acre site of the regenerated Olympic Park.

£1.3 billion project by Lend Lease and London & Continental Railways

4 million sq ft of Grade A office space

350 new homes and 275,000 sq ft hotel

22 acre site of which 3 acres will be civic and open space

First commercial occupancy projected for 2014

2 CHOBHAM ACADEMY, STRATFORDLend Lease is the Principal Sponsor of Chobham Academy, with the Harris Federation appointed as the Educational Lead. Chobham Academy, on the Olympic Village site, puts an educational legacy at the heart of the regeneration ambitions for east London.

1,800 student places

Opens September 2013

Pupils aged 3-18 years

Specialise in Performing Arts, English and focus on sports

3&4 GREENWICH PENINSULA, LONDONGreenwich Peninsula is the intelligent location for business and pleasure. Minutes from the City, Canary Wharf and City Airport, Greenwich Peninsula is a fully mixed use regeneration project and exciting new London district.

£5 billion project by Lend Lease and Quintain Estates & Developments Plc

3.5 million sq ft of Grade A flexible office space

10,000 new homes

350,000 sq ft retail and leisure

600 bedroom 4* hotel with London’s largest ballroom

www.lendlease.com

As organisations look to become greener and reduce their office operational costs, they will look to the environmental and price point advantages that emerging locations like Stratford and Greenwich can offer.

KEVIN CHAPMAN, HEAD OF OFFICE DEVELOPMENT, LEND LEASE

8903 LL Info Pod Advert_297x230_AW.indd 1 14/11/2011 10:39

Bouygues UK delivers innovative and sustainable construction across

a wide range of sectors. Our biggest strength is our commitment to

intelligent management throughout the entire life-cycle of each project

– which is your guarantee of efficiency and excellence. No complications.

No delays. Just a refreshingly passionate approach, a team you can rely on

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For more information about our approach and our projects visit:

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ST PAUL’S WAY TRUST SCHOOL SIR JOHN CASS SCHOOL

EAST 2011 final.indd 1 20/10/2011 11:52:36

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The Olympics has brOughT fOrward easT lOndOn’s regeneraTiOn by aT leasT 10 years. EstatEs GazEttE’s Olympics cOrrespOndenT Nick WhitteN lOOks aT hOw sTraTfOrd has seized iTs chance

continued overleaf ➳

12 winter 2011

“These projects are just the beginning. We will use our land holdings and planning powers to ensure we maximise the benefits of regeneration and development for the people living here, because we believe our residents deserve the best,” he adds.

The masterplan focuses on four areas – Stratford Old Town, Carpenters Estate, Chobham Farm and Sugar House Lane – because of their strong potential for change and existing developer pressure. In the short term, £760 million of early development opportunities have been identified, bringing in 1,873 new homes and 71,000sq m of commercial space.

In Stratford Old Town, there will be up to 1,200 new homes with 204,400sq m of retail, education, office and hotel space earmarked to complement development at Stratford City, creating a central focal point of development in the area.

Chobham Farm’s future is seen as being residential with 1,200 homes identified for the area. A mixed-use scheme is being considered for the Greater Carpenters neighbourhood with 1,900 homes and 20,500sq m of commercial space planned.

At Sugar House Lane, LandProp has put forward plans for Strand East, a development with 1,200 homes and 50,000sq m of commercial space.

Wales says: “We want to transform the borough’s economy to create more jobs and offer real ladders of opportunity for work and learning. We want to encourage more shops to open that will build a new metropolitan centre for east London.”

Meanwhile, with its branded red lettering standing out above the construction work, Westfield’s £1.45 billion Stratford City shopping centre-led scheme opened in September, welcoming four million visitors, to a fanfare of praise. John Lewis, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Vue Cinema anchor the retail element of the scheme – Europe’s largest shopping centre – which also brought Foyles bookshop to east London.

Close to the shopping centre, Westfield has built the first phase of its 102,000sq m office development at Stratford City. The 12,000sq m One Stratford Place has been available since September, while a further 93,000sq m will be delivered after the London 2012 Games.

he world’s eyes will soon be focused on east London, as the 200-ha Olympic Park in Stratford hosts the 30th Olympic Games during the

summer of 2012. Stratford – at the heart of Newham’s Arc of Opportunity, Europe’s largest regeneration project – has grasped this once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform itself, with more than 20,000 new homes and eight new schools to be built, as well as shops, leisure and community facilities, that will create more than 46,000 jobs.

In December 2010 Mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales approved the Stratford Metropolitan Masterplan, a strategic vision document which was finalised after a year-long process involving widespread community consultation.

“Change on a massive scale has already begun in Stratford with the construction of the Olympic Park and Stratford City – a new shopping, leisure and commercial destination of international significance,” says Wales.


And as if that wasn’t enough, Australian developer Lend Lease, with London and Continental Railways (LCR), is working up plans to create the UK’s second-largest office campus, after Canary Wharf. International Quarter Stratford City (IQSC) will see 372,000sq m of grade A offices built on a 9-ha site next to Westfield’s Stratford City, and in front of the Olympic Park. The total 465,000sq m of office space in the two schemes will create a cluster more than double the size of the Paddington office market in west London.

The £1.3 billion Lend Lease/LCR mixed-use scheme – which also includes 26,000sq m of hotel space and 350 new homes – was defined in a zonal masterplan completed at the beginning of August 2011, detailing how it will take shape over the 15 years following the Games, with the first offices ready for occupation from the end of 2014.

The offices will be spread across 15 to 20 buildings of five to 20 storeys, each of at least 19,000sq m. Each building will be suitable for businesses of a range of sizes, with fully customisable floor plates ranging from 1,400sq m to more than

3,700sq m, allowing tenants to create an office environment that meets their needs and reflects their corporate culture.

Lend Lease project director Matt Beasley says: “We will engage with occupiers from project conception to deliver a healthy, sustainable and highly productive workplace, bringing ideas and experiences from around the world to ensure their corporate vision becomes a reality.”

Uniquely for a development of its size, all the key infrastructure and facilities will be in place when the first office workers move in.

And those workers will be well connected to other major business hubs. St Pancras International station is just six minutes

away, while Liverpool Street can be reached in less than 10 minutes. For international business, London City Airport is within 15 minutes reach. Beasley says: “Unrivalled connectivity, world class workplace amenities and key infrastructure already in place make the International Quarter Stratford City London’s most exciting new commercial district.”

Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) and BNP Paribas Real Estate were appointed joint office leasing agents for the IQSC scheme in June 2011. Chris Hiatt, chairman of JLL’s national office agency team says: “Stratford will be London’s fourth major office quarter.

“In the short term, the focus will be

LEFT: Westfield Stratford City at night.ABOVE: Office space development is well under way.

TOP RIGHT: The bridge linking the centre of Stratford with Westfield.ABOVE RIGHT: Shoppers at Westfield Stratford City.

14 winter 2011

on riding the wave of the Games. The connectivity is absolutely superb with the likes of the DLR, Overground, the Javelin and Crossrail to come. It will also have pricing advantages over the likes of Canary Wharf. We will be able to do a deal in the £30s [per sq ft] and still make money.”

As a further boost to the scheme, the Manhattan Loft Corporation (MLC), which has recently fitted out London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, will build a seven-storey 150-bed hotel alongside IQSC. Planning permission has been secured to extend upwards to 42 storeys to accommodate 253 high-rise apartments.

MLC is credited with importing New York-style loft living to the UK and the new penthouse suites in Stratford could become the first east London flats to sell for more than £1 million.

But the regeneration of Stratford is not only about new development: it is about building on the area’s history and making use of what is already there. Perhaps the best illustration of this is the £13 million Shoal sculpture, which will run just under 500 metres along the Great Eastern Road providing a striking entrance to the station.

The sculpture, designed by architecture practice Studio Egret West, consists of a series of up-lit titanium leaves mounted on poles each of 16 metres in height. It will shimmer in the breeze, making it the largest kinetic sculpture in the world. Yet another medal-winning addition to Stratford.

ABOVE: The Shoal sculpture will run along Great Eastern Road to Stratford station.

RIGHT: University Square, part of Stratford’s University Quarter development.

Stratford’s cultural and educational renaissance

The five-storey 8,600sq m University Square development in Stratford will soon be driving the area’s educational and cultural renewal.

The £33 million redevelopment scheme, which is due to open in Autumn 2013, will provide space for Birkbeck, University of London and the University of East London (UEL) as well as

Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc).The new education hub will house

dedicated spaces for flexible full-time, part-time and evening study for 3,400 students, in subjects including law, social sciences, accounting, digital media, community development, history and the performing arts.

Bringing together Stratford’s cultural assets – Stratford Picture House, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Stratford Circus and the new University Square scheme – will create a vibrant cultural quarter at Theatre Square.

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, [email protected]

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

http://www.dlapiper.com

16 winter 2011

foreign exchange

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PA Peter AndrewS, chief executive of London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC) – chair

BL BoB LAne, chairman of LTGDCHM HArALd MüLLer, managing director of LandProp, development arm of Inter IKEA Group

PhM PHiLiP MüLLer, marketing and communications manager, LandPropNG nicoLAS Guérin, director, Bouygues UK property development PM Peter MurrAy, chairman of New London Architecture and Wordsearch, a communications

and marketing company KM Kevin MurPHy, chief executive of ExCeL London, which is owned by ADNEC, Abu Dhabi

National Exhibitions CompanyVC vAneSSA cLArK, founder of Sinclair Clark consultant surveyors

PM

BLNG

PhMPA KM

VC

HM


PA Whatinfluencedyourcompany’sdecisiontocomeintoeastLondon?

KM AbuDhabialwaysplannedtosetupaseriesofeventcentresaroundtheworld.ItcreatedADNECeventscentreinthecity,toattractbusinesstourism.Inlookingtoexpandglobally,ittargetedLondonandExCeLasasafeandinterestingdestinationtowhichthey’reverycloselyallied. TheoriginalExCeLopenedin2000andwasfundedbyaMalaysianconsortium.ThedevelopmenthappenedthankstotheLondonDocklandsDevelopmentCorporation[LDDC],alanddeal,fasttrackplanning,businessrateholidays,andsupportforconstruction. Itstruggledfromdayonebecauseofperceptions,connectivity,andnothelpedatallbyJeremyClarksonwritingaboutthefirstBoatShow:“ThatnewplaceExCeL…ItwassofareastitmayaswellhavebeeninPoland.”

VC Butthatperceptionhasn’tchangedamongseasonedcentralLondoninvestors.I’mstillamazedbycolleagueswhohaven’tbeenontheJubileeline,onHighSpeedOne,orinorthroughStratford.Theystilldon’tgethowwell-connectedthisareais.

HM IarrivedjustyesterdayandI’mstayingintheIbisHotelinStratford.NomoresleepyStratford.It’sfullofpeople,trafficjams…it’sarealcity.Westfieldisthenextpieceinthiswholepuzzle,whichwillpullawholelotofpeopletoStratfordandputitsexistencefirmlyintheirminds.

LEFT: Peter Andrews chaired the discussion at The View, LTGDC’s marketing suite overlooking the Olympics site.LEFT BELOW: Harald Müller says East tells investors all about the opportunities for investment in east London.

➳

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has shrunk globally by over a third since 2006. Emerging markets are beginning to dominate but Europe still accounts for over 25% of global FDI. The UK leads, attracting about 19% of total European investment, about 36% of that coming into London, supporting one in seven jobs in the capital. Last year it created about 20,000 jobs. According to Ernst and Young, incoming businesses are most concerned about transport and logistics; telecoms infrastructure; and the political, legal and regulatory environment. They want stability to grow their businesses – with the right skills and labour readily available.

So, how to attract those investors? East gathered a panel of experts to comment on how east London is – or should be – attracting investment from overseas.

Meet London’s local authorities on 1 March 2012 atCity Hall to discuss their priority development siteswww.sitematchlondon.com or call 020 7978 6840

sitematch_advert3.indd 1 14/11/2011 17:26

http://www.sitematchlondon.com


yearslater,it’sagreatsuccess.TheSaint-Denisareaisstillimproving,withalotofbanksandotherbigcompaniesmovingin. Andthirdly,itwasagoodopportunitytoaddfarmorevalueandtocreateanewcityquarter.

PM DevelopmenthashistoricallytakenplaceintheWestEndandtheCity.OneofthegreatdriversofinvestmenthereineastLondonisthepotential.TherestofcentralLondonisfullup,soit’smuchmoredifficulttodothingsthere.

PA CanwegetBob’sviewfromhiswiderexperienceofmarketingotherpartsofthecountry?

BL IwasresponsibleformarketingMerseysideintheearly1990s.HereinLondonwealreadyhaveaworld-classproductandthat’spartoftheproblem.InMerseyside,thebigissuewastheseriouslydamagedbrand.Andtheoverwhelmingprioritywastogetpeopletocomeandseeit.

Asitwas200milesaway,wehadahugeprogrammetargetingdecision-makers,includingcharteringplanesandtakingpeopletotheGrandNational.Theproblemhereiswearepartofthissuccessfulproduct,thisfantasticworldbrand.

PA Kevin,arethereplansforfurtherinvestmentinExCeL?

KM Ournextmajorprojectistoreshapethewesternentrance,tomakeitvisibleasyougetofftheDocklandsLightRailway.Duringthatworkwewanttobuildanother300-bedhotel.ExCeListryingtobecometheeventsdestinationofLondon.Crossrailwillbetransformational,certainlyfortheRoyalDocksandwithoutadoubtforeastLondon.TheviewofLondonisshiftingtowardstheeast,thankstoSiemenscomingintotheRoyals,andIKEA,nottomentionwhattheO2hasdone.

PA Harald,whydidyouinvesthere–didyoutargettheUK,thenLondon,andthenendupineastLondon?

HM Wedon’tlookforready-developedprojects.Wereallytrytofindinvestmentswecanturnaroundandcreateadestination.Andofcoursecreatevalue,bybuyingthelandforadecentprice,developingitandrealisingit.ThefinancialcrisiswasagoodmomenttoinvestintheUK–itwasoverheatingbutthatwoulddiedown.Afterayearlooking,wecametoeastLondon.Justwalkingaround,Icouldfeelthepotential.Butbeforespendingseveralmillionsonit,welookedatCityAirport,ExCeLandCanaryWharf,whichallmadeuscertainthiswasthenextup-and-comingareaofLondon.OurboardcameoverinJune,andsaid:“Whyareyousoslow?Whyaren’tyouinvestingmoremoney?”Sonowwe’retryingtoclosemoredealsineastLondon.

PA Nicolas–BouygueshasinvestmentsacrossmainlandEuropebutisrelativelynewtotheUK.WhydidBouyguescometotheUKandthisareainparticular?

NG TheUKisafantasticmarket,sounderthanmostotherEuropeancountries.WhyeastLondon?Iseethreemainreasons.Firstofall,becauseweareusedtoworkingwithpublicbodies,andmostofthelandherewasheldbypublicbodies. Secondly,becausewe’vegotexperienceofhugeregeneration,especiallyinnorthParis.FortheWorldCupin’98webuiltanewstadium.Twelve

LEFT: Vanessa Clark of Sinclair Clark, Kevin Murphy of ExCeL and Peter Murray of New London Architecture.

➳

“TheUKisafantasticmarket,sounderthanmostotherEuropeancountries.WhyeastLondon?...itwasagoodopportunitytoaddfarmorevalueandtocreateanewcityquarter”

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20 winter 2011

connections,theO2andnowtheshopping.KM EastLondonisactually‘NewLondon’.This

partoftowniswheretheinvestmentisgoing,wheretransportandconnectivityhasimprovedimmeasurably,becauseoftheLondon2012Games,becauseofWestfield.

PhM Yes,butIdon’tthinkweshouldhide‘eastLondon’.Ifwestarttochangeitandsomehowwrapitnicelythenitmaylookdesperate.

PM Ithinktoyoungerpeople,eastLondonactuallyhasverypositiveconnotations.Peoplewanttocometoliveherebecauseit’sexciting,it’svibrantandthere’salottodo.

HM Ineedtogetpeoplehere.Ifyouhavethepeoplehere,thenyoudon’tneedtosellitatMIPIM.

PA Wewillhavethepeoplehere,withtheGames.WearehavingpeoplecometoWestfield.Theissueisgettingthemtostayratherthangohome,astheydoatthemomentwithExCeLandO2.

NG TheGamesgivesusauniqueopportunitytocommunicatewhatishappeningoutsidetheGamessite.

KM ExCeL,CityAirport,CanningTownandWestfieldshouldworktogetherstrategicallyontheirmarketingandcommunications,sothatwe’resendingthesamemessages.Forexample,we’vegotastrategicpartnershippackagewithourclients,wherewesendthemtoCanaryWharftodine,toparty,toshop;toWestfieldtoshop;andtoCityAirport.

PA Arethereanyotherbarrierstoentrythatyoufeelinvestorsfindhere?

KM Taxation.We’vegottocampaignabouttaxation.Also,ifwe’regoingtocreateadestination,it’sgottobeafuturehomeforacompany’sseniorexecutives.They’llbethinkingwhereamIgoingtolive?Aremychildrengoingtobesafe?Aretheygoingtogotoagoodschool?AmIgoingtoputmyhandupfor50%tax?

VC Universitiesdon’tgetmuchmentioninthearea–GreenwichUniversity,UniversityofEastLondon,

EventhoughourtargetmarketisonlyintheWestEnd,youhavetomakejustasmuchefforttogetthemhereasyouwouldiftheywere200milesaway. EastLondonwasalwaystheplaceformessyindustries.Tryingtochangethatimageisabigjob,asitwaschangingMerseyside.ButLiverpoolnowhasaverypositiveimage.

PA Itneedsco-ordination.TheCityco-ordinatesinvestmentbyvariousdevelopersandinstitutions,butthere’snosinglebodytodothatforeastLondon–therehavebeentoomanyagenciescompeting.

KM Therearesomany,you’renotquiteclear:GatewaytoLondon,OPLC,GLAortheODA,LondonandPartnersorVisitLondon,aswas.

VC WeabsolutelyhavetomarketeastLondontoLondon.InmycoupleofyearsatCanaryWharf,Iwaspullinginvestorsin,gettingalotofcynicalagentsovertoeastLondon,toGreenwichPeninsula,toStratford,toCanningTown.Andthatcynicismisstillthere.TheuniqueinvestorsatthistablearenottypicaloftheinvestorsthatcomeoutofLondonandglobally.Andthat’swhowe’vegottoappealto.Also,weneedtoappealtooccupiersandcreateemployment.WeneedtomarketeastLondonwithallitsdrivers:CanaryWharf,transport,the

“Weneedtoappealtooccupiersandcreateemployment.WeneedtomarketeastLondonwithallitsdrivers:CanaryWharf,transport,theconnections,theO2andnowtheshopping”

TOP: Vanessa Clark of Sinclair Clark.RIGHT: Peter Andrews and Bob Lane, LTGDC’s chief executive and chair.OPPOSITE: Nicolas Guérin, director of Bouygues UK.


➳

relocationofparticularteamsandfordivisionsthatarebeingrestructured.

PA Vanessa,doyouthinkthatwehavegottherightofferforinvestorsandoccupiershere?Whatmoredoweneedtodotomakethisanattractiveenvironmentforthefootloosewhocouldalsogoanywhereelseinthecountry?

VC Forinvestors,it’saboutarticulatinghowtheareaworks,andthestoryofhowagroupofinvestorsinvestedandcontinuetoinvesthere,inlanguagetheyunderstand.Puttingsomefactstogether,andcreatinganinvestmentprofile. Theotherareaisattractingoccupiersouthere.Whetherit’sthegovernment,whetherit’spharmaceuticalcompanies,insurancecompaniesorthebanks.

PA Inspiteofalltheproblemswe’veheardabout,we’veonlygottolookoutofthewindow,toseeallthesewonderfulopportunitiesandwhat’sbeingcreatedintheOlympicPark,toseethatthefutureisverybrightforthispartoftown–andwecanhelptoaccelerateandimprovethatfuture.

RavensbourneopenedatGreenwichPeninsula.Wecouldmakesomuchmoreofthat.Employerswantgraduates,theywantskilledlabour.

PA Equallythoseuniversitieswanttopromotetheirproducttoaninternationalpopulationofstudents;theywantthemtocometoeastLondontostudy.

VC Definitely,particularlywithfeelevelsastheystandnowintheUK.Theinternationalplayersreallyareveryimportant.

HM Whatisgettingincreasinglyunbelievableistheplanningsystem,andhowexpensiveitiscomparedtotherestofEurope.Youneedtoemploy2,000consultantstogetthroughthisstupidity.Andthey’reveryexpensive.Andthispumpsupthepricesofhousing.Youdon’thavethisinothercountries.There,teachersandnursescanaffordtobuytheirownhouses–andnotbyhavinghighersalariesbutlowerpricesforthehouses.

NG Onethingthat’sbeendoneinmycountryisthegovernmentshiftingtheirofficesfromthecentreofParistowestoreastofthecity.Itsetsanexample.

VC Infairness,thegovernmenthassaidthatStratfordwillbeoneofthelocationsitwilllookatforthe

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Government plans for an enterprise zone aim to reGenerate the last piece of the DocklanDs jiGsaw, the royal Docks, builDinG on the success of nearby Developments such as excel anD lonDon city airport. meanwhile, economic renewal is in eviDence to the north. with a rapiDly increasinG community of hiGh-tech start-ups anD establisheD companies, the area has attracteD the attention of Global internet Giant, GooGle. DaviD blackman reports

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24 winter 2011

he designation of London’s Docklands as an enterprise zone in 1982 may have been the key factor in kickstarting the transformation of the area

into the office and residential hub that it is today. And the government has decided to use the enterprise zone mechanism to complete Docklands’ unfinished business – the regeneration of the Royal Docks.

The area immediately to the east of Canary Wharf has seen significant investment in recent years, most notably ExCeL, London’s leading convention centre. Construction work has started on industrial engineering superbrand Siemens’ planned exhibition centre for sustainable technology, while London City Airport is expanding by two-thirds. A new cable car, linking the docks to the Greenwich Peninsula will open in time for the London 2012 Games. But much of the area, covered by one of 21 new-style enterprise zones across England, remains derelict.

The area, which includes Custom House and Silvertown Quays, boasts 125-ha of

developable land. As the Mayor’s economic adviser Anthony Browne points out, the docks are no further from the City of London than is Hampstead – a greater advantage when Crossrail’s Custom House station is built, giving direct links to both central London and Heathrow airport. A spur of the Docklands Light Railway already runs through the Royals.

The government is offering a suite of incentives to encourage firms to invest in its enterprise zones. Firstly, companies that locate in the enterprise zone will be able to claim business rate relief for five years. Incoming businesses will also benefit from relaxed planning rules, allowing them to expand quickly without going though the normal bureaucratic hoops. Both incentives are designed to unlock investment in the area. The government also promises to roll out superfast broadband across the zone.

Newham Council’s regeneration director Clive Dutton believes sweeteners are crucial. He says: “In a competitive world, global investors will compare not only the location of sites, but those that are best incentivised.”

Much of the Royals site is owned by the public sector, most notably the 20-ha waterfront Silvertown Quays site for which the London Development Agency is seeking a development partner.

Newham, has demonstrated its commitment to the Royals by locating its town hall there, and wants to stop the area ending up as a collection of crinkly sheds – the fate of many 1980s era enterprise zones. The council is keen to secure a mix of uses, ensuring real investment and not just footloose companies relocating and then exiting when the incentives expire.

Vitally for Newham’s economy, this means local people gaining a share of thousands of expected new jobs, as has already happened at Westfield Stratford City. Businesses will work with schemes such as the council’s Workplace employment programme to help residents, especially the borough’s younger people and long-term unemployed.

Newham’s Mayor Sir Robin Wales says: “We want our residents to have the same

TOP: Tech City is well established in Shoreditch.MIDDLE: Emirates Air Line cable car.ABOVE: The new Crossrail station at Custom House, Royal Docks.

Eco IncubatorLaying the building blocks of London’s first ‘smart community’ is the goal of Ravensbourne College Eco Incubator on the Greenwich Peninsula.

The £72 million building provides space for early stage, high growth potential, creative technology companies. Backed by Ravensbourne Enterprise and Innovation Centre team and Greenwich Council, the Eco Incubator aims to foster a new cluster of technology, media and design companies on the 162-ha peninsula.

The facility already provides space and services for 85 trading companies, spanning software development, gaming, social media platforms, architecture, transmedia, film and TV production, product design, fashion and advertising. Ravensbourne’s director of enterprise and innovation, Chris Thompson, says: “These companies are an explicit part of the Tech City regeneration and they are creating new jobs and services.”


opportunities and aspirations as people living elsewhere in the capital.”

The enterprise zone is just one element in the wider regeneration of east London, which sits at the hinge between the Thames Gateway and the London-Cambridge growth corridor and is meant to deliver around a quarter of the capital’s new homes on one-twentieth of its land mass.

The regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley is moving rapidly ahead, thanks to the Games, and to the west, Shoreditch has seen the establishment of Tech City.

The area’s profile as a centre for high-tech businesses was confirmed in autumn 2011, as Google announced its lease on a seven-storey building, which it will refurbish and open up to organisations that support technology entrepreneurs, providing a launchpad for start-ups and developers, the first such Google initiative globally.

David Singleton, engineering director of Google UK, says: “We announced our involvement in the Tech City project last year. Finding a suitable building is the first major step, and we hope to announce more details about the organisations we’ll work with and how they will use the space in the coming months. East London is already home to hundreds of innovative British start-ups, and has huge potential for economic growth and new jobs.”

Tech City Investment Organisation CEO Eric Van Der Kleij, says: “Google is a terrific example of a major technology business that understands the importance of nurturing as well as benefiting from the communities where they operate.”

Councillor Guy Nicholson, Hackney council’s cabinet member for regeneration, sees evidence that this is happening. “It is not just in Shoreditch and Dalston, but also in Hackney Central and Wick,” he says. “Developments geared for financial services are now being altered to create floor space that is more tailored towards artistic and creative businesses.”

On the Greenwich Peninsula to the south, Hackney is working with Greenwich Council’s Eco Incubator initiative at Ravensbourne College. Chris Thompson, Ravensbourne’s director of enterprise and innovation, says that the recently extended East London undergound line is connecting the different parts of east and south-east London. He says “This is not just about Shoreditch and the Olympic Park. This is a really powerful boost for the regeneration of east London.”

Tech CityTech City is a new kind of regeneration initiative. While old-style regeneration projects relied on public sector cash to stimulate activity in areas shunned by the market, Tech City aims to work with the grain of economic activity. And it hopes to be an engine for the growth, not only of the east London economy but that of the UK as a whole.

The area around Old Street and Shoreditch is Europe’s fastest growing technology hub. From just 15 digital and creative businesses in this area in 2008, the number has increased to 500. According to Tech City Investment Organisation CEO Eric Van Der Kleij, this number has increased from 200 in the short time since the initiative was launched by prime minister David Cameron a year ago. “That has happened without any major government investment,” he says.

“Tech City is a welcome overlay on what’s been going on here over the last 20 years,” says Hackney Council regeneration cabinet member, councillor Guy Nicholson, referring to the roots of today’s digital-creative hub in the artist communities that sprung up in the area during the early ’90s. Another advantage for technology companies was the area’s superfast broadband, created to serve the financial sector in the neighbouring City, which the more recent arrivals have been able to exploit.

Some seedcorn public money is available. Tech City’s Launchpad initiative has £2 million to invest in

£100,000 of match-funded grants, which will go to 20 promising digital start-up companies. If successful, the Launchpad programme will be rolled out nationally to help stimulate the growth and success of small businesses.

But more typical of the initiative is the recruitment of former LinkedIn European managing director Kevin Eyres, to create a network of experienced mentors who can help guide the fledgling companies attracted to the area.

Van Der Kleij says that the chief benefit will be to throw a spotlight on the area, which is already home to some of the fastest-growing digital technology companies in Europe. These include firms such as Moo.com, Songkick, Wildfire and Tweetdeck.

IT giants Cisco, Intel and Microsoft have all followed suit by shifting operations to the area, while Google will support start-ups. New enterprises include social networking company Yammer, which announced in August that it had chosen London as the home for its first European headquarters. Yammer, which will be based in shared workspace TechHub, plans to double its staff in the London office by the end of the year.

Tech City provides opportunities for fostering the potential of east London’s human capital. Digital and creative businesses can readily tap into younger people’s interest in technology, providing them with opportunities to design and develop new technologies.

26 winter 2011

MAIN: London RIB Voyages will run a high-speed service taking VIPs and performers from their West End hotels to the O2 Centre.


hanks to a loan from Lloyds TSB, and its programme of financial assistance, visitors to the Olympic Park will be able to travel in bygone style on Water Chariots’ canal boat trips from Tottenham Hale and Limehouse Basin. The Wapping-based operation also

offers VIPs and accredited journalists the enticing option of travelling to the London 2012 Games entirely on water from central London, using Thames services run by riverboat operators before transferring to Water Chariots at Limehouse Basin. The loan coincided with a £300,000 waterbus route upgrade, funded by British Waterways,

the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC).

“More accessible and attractive waterways will help draw operators of restaurants, shops, cafes and other waterside businesses, creating a new Camden of the east,” says the LTGDC’s head of economic development, John Middleton.

And for London RIB Voyages – another Thames riverboat operator running a high-speed service taking VIPs and performers from their West End hotels to the O2 – Lloyds TSB organised a meeting with 2012 hospitality companies.

Such projects typify how Lloyds TSB, official banking and insurance partner to the Games, is supporting

TAs officiAl pArtners to the london 2012 GAmes, lloyds

tsB And Bt openreAch Are mAkinG sure the GreAtest show on eArth leAves A viBrAnt leGAcy for eAst london’s

Businesses And residents. Paul Coleman reports

Swan New Homes is a dynamic developinghousing and regeneration agency with acommitment to delivering high qualityregeneration projects throughout EastLondon and Essex.

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“Lloyds TSB ... is supporting east London businesses in both the run-up to the Games and the legacy period afterwards, well beyond its contractual remit”


Swan New Homes is a dynamic developinghousing and regeneration agency with acommitment to delivering high qualityregeneration projects throughout EastLondon and Essex.

• Embracing innovation and providingsolutions

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SWN4598_EastAd_5 14/11/11 14:20 Page 1

east London businesses in both the run-up to the Games and the legacy period afterwards, well beyond its contractual remit as official banker to the Games.

The help was part of a £1 billion fund distributed to firms chasing direct contracts from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the ODA. Although this fund was taken up by the end of June 2011, Lloyds TSB continues to offer financial support to firms engaged in Games-related ventures.

Paul Evans, Lloyds TSB commercial banking area director for Essex and east London, says more than £73 million has been lent to local businesses in 2011, many of which attended Lloyds TSB’s 2012 supply chain events. At one such event, Evans recalls his alarm at finding one family about to fund a new business with credit cards. “This was a great business so we arranged a structured commercial loan with much lower interest rates,” says Evans.

Even now, at this advanced stage, the ODA is yet to award all of its direct contracts. Evans stresses that Lloyds TSB is still keen to help entrepreneurs further along the Games supply chain who want to benefit from the vast hospitality, catering, leisure and tourism opportunities that remain.

“Contracts in this phase leading up to the Games are often smaller yet more specialist,” says Chris Daniels, head of London 2012 activation for Lloyds TSB’s wholesale division. He recalls a note last summer from LOCOG advising Lloyds TSB that Games organisers needed specialist UK suppliers of dim sum, samosas, spices, fresh loaves, pastries, goat’s milk and cheese, and goat meat for goat curry. He forwarded the LOCOG note to the bank’s frontline staff. “They told

local suppliers which the bank knows that they should bid for these contracts on CompeteFor.”

CompeteFor is a free business ‘dating’ site that matches businesses with thousands of opportunities created by the Games. Over 40,000 London businesses have registered, along with another 100,000 firms across the UK.

There are other ways of getting suppliers in touch with contractors. For example, Evans hosted a catering supply chain event in Docklands, where buyers from large appointed 2012 Games suppliers Aramark and Compass Group told a host of smaller, specialist suppliers about their sub-contracting needs. “Smaller suppliers thought it was fantastic that they could meet buyers of these large companies,” says Evans. “I left after five hours and they were still talking and exchanging cards.”

There will also be plenty of contracts and sub-contracts after the Games as the Olympic Park’s new neighbourhoods are developed. Businesses relocating and fit-out and construction firms will want bank support. Daniels and Evans regularly meet the Olympic Park Legacy Company to see how Lloyds TSB can support these businesses.

Lloyds TSB already supports Newham Council’s business development programme and is training its staff to become mentors to firms in their area. “It’s given our staff new ways of connecting with new customers,” says Daniels. “And it gives businesses we help access to new networks and ideas.”

Evans says that while some firms still need to register quickly on CompeteFor, he believes the Games have made a multitude of SMEs far more confident about public tendering and has awakened their entrepreneurial zeal.

ABOVE: Water Chariots will take visitors to the Olympic Park from Tottenham Hale and Limehouse Basin – on board were Mark Blackwell, British Waterways; Peter Coleman, Water Chariots; and LTGDC’s John Middleton.

0975 StepneyGreen EastMag advert Nov11.indd 1 07/11/2011 10:52:16

http://www.east-thames.co.uk


hen London staged the Olympics in 1948, journalists queued to report

winning feats by telephone, while operators dispatched results overseas in morse code.

Fast-forward to 2012 and audiences across the planet will be watching the London 2012 Games on an estimated 8.5 billion PCs, smartphones and tablets, thanks to BT Openreach’s high-bandwith, high-speed infrastructure. Its super-fast fibre access will deliver download speeds of up to 100 MB per second and upload speeds of up to 30 MB per second.

For those at the Games, BT is working to ensure 14,700 athletes and an estimated 500,000 visitors can keep in touch with family and friends in over 200 countries. Athletes in the 2,000 Olympic Village apartments will enjoy super-fast, high-bandwidth connections and download speeds from new fibre-to-the-premises (FTP) technology, while competitors, officials and spectators at the Weymouth sailing venue will benefit from fibre-to-cabinet (FTC).

Tim Barclay, BT Openreach managing director for sales, marketing and customer engagement, says the Games will demonstrate the potential of technology which will benefit east London long after the closing ceremony. “FTP provides a real legacy for future Athletes Village residents,” says Barclay, “and will support other areas being regenerated around Stratford.”

It will also provide a boost for businesses in east London which are now demanding faster and wider bandwidth to run their new telephone, TV and internet services. Barclay says: “It will create opportunities for media businesses, SMEs and large corporations to move into an area now equipped with enabling infrastructure.”

BT Openreach’s infrastructure is already servicing the new Westfield Stratford City shopping centre. And Andrew Wells, Openreach 2012 programme director, says: “After the Games the network will support the thousands of homes being built in the Olympic Park’s new neighbourhoods.”

Crucially for the area’s economic growth, the new high capacity, diverse and secure network will also serve the four million square feet of new offices being built at the International Quarter Stratford City.

Super-fast fibre access will be available to two-thirds of UK homes by 2015, the centrepiece of BT Group’s £2.5 billion investment, and the Games are an important testbed for the deployment of this technology.

“We’ve learnt valuable lessons during the build-up to the Games,” says Barclay. “We’ve been testing leading edge technology on a huge scale at a high profile location. This has focused us on getting it right – and doing it brilliantly.”

Wells recalls the enormity and complexity of BT Openreach’s task on reaching the

1,000-days-to-go mark. “Our goal was to make sure the new infrastructure delivers the capacity, resilience and diversity to support the Games, journalists, visitors and all of our UK customers,” says Wells.

An estimated 27,000 members of the media will descend on the Olympic Park during the Games. Wells says BT Openreach is working to ensure the Games network covers surges in demand when anticipated gold medal performances send journalists scurrying to other event venues. The network will also help ‘beauty cameras’ showcase events at iconic venues, such as the beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade, facilitate live screens and support athletes’ training camps across the country.

Test events have already successfully demonstrated the success of BT Openreach’s infrastructure, including wireless internet, mobile communications, web hosting, fixed line IP telephony, local area networks, cable TV and broadcast.

In less than 10 years, the park has raced to the forefront of communications infrastructure provision within the UK. It is a position that gives the area a huge advantage in attracting new business occupiers over the coming years.

Barclay says the Games will leave a legacy for both BT Openreach and for east London: “The Games are a catalyst for galvanising our teams. Our infrastructure is building a legacy for future generations.”

W

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ST. ANDREWS, TOWER HAMLETS E3

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34 winter 2011

Bromley by Bow

IslIngtonCAMDEn

WEstMInstER

lAMbEth

soUthWARK

hACKnEY

CItY

toWER hAMlEts

Olympic Park

Stratford

Canary Wharf

strand East

02 Roofwalk

02

gREEWICh

nEWhAM

bEXlEY

hAVERIng

bARKIng AnD DAgEnhAM

lond

on sustainable Industries Park

bark

ing Creative Industries Quarter

barking RiversideCanning town


➳

with the olympic park well on its way to completion and the recent phenomenon of westfield stratford city, there is more yet to come. we focus on six major projects helping to transform east london

36 winter 2011

Almost complete is Meadowland, a vital early part of the Barking Riverside development. This cluster of 33 two-, three- and four-bedroom homes is set around a landscaped garden square featuring a community orchard of fruit trees, a rain garden and play area. The combination of advanced off-site manufacturing techniques and a rigorous design process have created highly sustainable homes that represent a significant move forward in the internal space, design standards and overall quality of new family homes in the area.

Meadowland is a key residential component of the first phase of one of the largest development sites in London. At 185-ha, 41% of which is green space, Barking Riverside is one of the largest brownfield regeneration projects in Europe,

creating a vibrant new community for 26,000 people. The 2km landscaped waterfront development of 10,800 homes – giving local residents access to the River Thames for the first time – will eventually comprise seven neighbourhoods. Drawing on £50 million of public funding as well as £120 million of public infrastructure funding, the scheme will create 1,500 jobs.

Already open, the Rivergate Centre, designed by van Heyningen and Haward, comprises a 630-place primary school, place of worship and social enterprise units, all centred on a public square. A small lake beside the school is landscaped with reed beds to encourage wildlife.

A secondary school (planning approval secured) forms part of a later phase, with a district centre including a retail superstore.

LEFT: Sustainable homes at Meadowland, Barking Riverside.ABOVE: The new Rivergate Centre. RIGHT: Office and studio space at the refurbished Granary.TOP RIGHT: Rathbone Market redevelopment at Canning Town.


➳

The first phase of work on a vibrant new Creative Industries Quarter (CIQ) in Barking has been completed with the restoration of a Victorian warehouse.

The former granary warehouse has been refurbished, alongside a striking new-build addition, to provide office and studio space on the east bank of the River Roding. The development comprises five floors, split into two wings, separated by a central core, and a cafe/bar with a riverside terrace and kitchen. Existing brickwork was retained on the north wing with the brand new south wing clad in bronze.

Also part of the first phase, the CIQ already has a number of creative industries in the restored Malthouse – including the Arc Theatre studio, 3Arts Drama Company, SPACE, visual artists and photographers. A new phase of development scheduled for the new year will create 220 new homes, workspaces for local artists, a new public square, community facilities and better public transport links across the River Roding.

Peter Andrews, chief executive at London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, said: “Barking has a vibrant creative industries base and our CIQ will act as a focal point to attract similar industries to the area.”

The first phase of English Cities Fund’s redevelopment of Rathbone Market, which began in December 2010, has been named Vermilion. The scheme is due for completion in summer 2012. It will include a new market square with shops, offices and community facilities. The development features 271 apartments in a colourfully clad 70m-high, 21-storey tower which inspired the name.

A big attraction for new residents of the apartments will be a communal eco garden, with all hard landscaping made from materials recycled from demolished buildings on site. Rainwater from the roofs will be diverted into a pond and watering system, while a soundproof ‘green wall’ will protect nesting birds from noisy roads and train lines. Plants have been chosen to recreate the habitat of protected species

such as the black redstart, found on the nearby Thames and Lea rivers.

The main contractor for the development is Sisk; and the sales agent, Hamptons International, already reports interest in the apartments, conveniently located just a five minute journey from Canary Wharf.

Elsewhere on the Canning Town site Bouygues Development and its partner One Housing Group have submitted plans to London Thames Gateway Development Corporation for a 6-ha scheme.

The planning application includes an outline submission for a masterplan, plus a detailed first phase application with proposals for 179 residential units of both private and affordable housing, as well as retail units, including a 7,000sq m Morrisons supermarket.

38 winter 2011

Next year thrill-seekers will be able to walk to the top of the O2 in Greenwich Peninsula, now that plans for a ‘roofwalk’ have been given permission by Greenwich Council. It is hoped the walkway will be ready in time for the Olympics next year.

Almost 200m long, and 60m above the ground at its highest point, the walk – which can hold up to 90 people at a time – will take about 30 minutes. A viewing platform at the highest point offers 360-degree views in a bid to boost daytime visitors. Roof-walkers will be accompanied by guides and attached to a central cable.

Alistair Wood of AEG Europe, the company which owns and operates the O2, says: “The principle embodies our desire to create a daytime and evening experience that will appeal not only to existing visitors to the O2, but also attract further visitors from across London.

The temporary structure – to be suspended from the O2’s distinctive yellow masts – was designed by architects at Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. Mike Davies, project director of the proposed walkway, says: “The rooftop walkway will be a new and distinctive addition to the O2, while preserving the integrity of the original structure as well as respecting its geometry and sculptural qualities. It will offer an exciting and challenging London attraction that is highly accessible to visitors.”

ABOVE: The Roofwalk’s 360-degree viewing platform.LEFT: Visitors will be guided over, attached to a central cable.RIGHT: A night-time impression of the landmark sculpture to front Dane’s Yard courtyard.

BELOW: London Sustainable Industries Park at night.


➳

The centrepiece of the Mayor of London’s new Green Enterprise District, the London Sustainable Industries Park (SIP) is on track for new tenants after securing planning and funding approval. The 25-ha SIP, which aims to host the largest concentration of environmental technology businesses in the UK, is expected to attract around £500 million in private sector investment, and generate around £35 million public sector revenue.

The latest occupier, anaerobic digestion company TEG, has planning permission for a state-of-the-art facility to convert over 60,000 tonnes of food waste each year into heating and power. The waste by-product acts as a fertiliser and is blended with other recycled products to make topsoil for new housing schemes in east London.

Anaerobic digestion will dramatically reduce waste to landfill which is why the London Waste and Recycling Board backed the TEG development with a £1.9 million funding deal. Construction of the plant is due to be finished in 2012.

Closed Loop Recycling, the first occupier of the London SIP, has announced a £12 million expansion plan to double the capacity of its existing plant from 30,000 to 60,000 tonnes each year, creating the most advanced plastics purification facility in the UK.

When finished the extension on the 1.2-ha site will mean increased output of food grade recycled plastic and improved sorting facilities as well as an additional 50 low carbon jobs.

Closed Loop Recycling is the first company in the world to recycle both PET and HDPE plastic bottles into food grade material for food and drink packaging. The expanded facility will save as much carbon as taking over 23,000 cars off the road.

To help expansion of the park, the final £10 million phase of infrastructure has been given government approval. Construction is planned to start on site in late 2011.

Plans for a 40m-tall landmark sculpture signal moves to redevelop a 10-ha site on the edge of the Olympic Park. Forming part of the Strand East site in Stratford, the sculpture is part of a development for a new public square, restaurant and exhibition space.

The slender, timber lattice sculpture, designed by architecture firm ARC-ML and engineer eHRW will be visible from many points around Stratford, even at night when it will be lit with internal LED lights.

“We are hugely excited to be working on the Strand East site and playing our part in the wider regeneration of Stratford,” says Harald Müller of LandProp.

“Our focus for now is to create a truly exceptional new public space at Dane’s Yard and this planning application seeks to create a wonderful landmark feature for the site, designed to have high architectural quality, beautifully illuminated. It will

mark the regeneration of the area and open it up for public access, including a new restaurant and exhibition space together with a new entrance from Stratford High Street,” Müller says.

The plans mark the beginning of the wider regeneration of the Strand East site located between Stratford High Street, the Three Mills Wall River and the River Lea Waterways. They follow the recent planning permission granted for the conversion of a derelict industrial building into a new restaurant and exhibition space, which will front the new Dane’s Yard Courtyard.

The new development is being undertaken by LandProp, the development arm of the Inter IKEA Group. Plans for the wider site are being developed, with public consultation to be held later on this year, and a planning application due to be submitted at the beginning of 2012.

An outstanding Victorian granary warehouse converted into stunning offi ce, studio or creative space in the heart of a vibrant community. www.thegranarybarking.co.uk

The Rooff Group construction and development Company moved in the summer to their new headquarters at the Granary in Abbey Road, Barking.

Conversion of this local historic building and construction of the stunning new Bronze clad extension, form part of the fi rst phase of longer term regeneration objectives for the Roding riverside frontage.

The Granary building and the adjoining Malthouse are among the oldest remaining buildings within Barking and Dagenham. Rooff are proud to be associated with the restoration and “bringing back to life” of such an important local feature.

Sustainability and the GranaryRooff introduced sustainable construction methods, to deliver the highest quality working environment at a viable price. This has been successfully achieved through a number of strategies;

• Cooling strategy incorporating the thermal mass of the existing Granary and the exposed concrete structure of the new extension.

• Natural ventilation to the whole building.

• Centralised gas fi red boiler plant with heat metering to each demise.

• Electrical sub-metering to each fl oor demise.

• Passive Solar shading through architectural mesh grilles.

• Pittsburg Corning Foamglas Insulation to the extension – recycled glass.

• Lime mortar re-pointing to the Granary elevations.

• Dalsouple recycled rubber fl ooring.

• Milliken recycled content fl oor tiles.

• Low level background lighting with individually controlled task lighting.

Rooff completed the entire work on site in little over a year and are looking for like minded creative and commercial businesses to occupy the building with

them. The Granary building forms a new destination point on the river, linking back to the borough’s historic fi shing and malting heritage.

The riverside location boasts space for a new riverside café and terrace with views over the Roding Nature Reserve and local house boat community. The fi nished accommodation offers fl oor area of between 2,000 – 15,000sqft.

Local agent Glenny have been appointed to market the completed development.

www.rooff.co.uk020 8709 1777





















For further property information please contact Peter Higgins from Glenny on 020 8591 6671 or email [email protected]

14690_The Granary_East_Ad_297x230_AW.indd 1 22/08/2011 14:40

http://www.rooff.co.uk

http://www.thegranarybarking.co.uk


Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors research demonstrates London is on track to achieve the

all-important legacy of the 2012 Olympics – and in a stronger position than previous host cities. Two of the players responsible for east London’s

regeneration, Andrew Altman and Peter Andrews, spoke to East about how it is being achieved

leading legacy









































For further property information please contact Peter Higgins from Glenny on 020 8591 6671 or email [email protected]

14690_The Granary_East_Ad_297x230_AW.indd 1 22/08/2011 14:40

continued overleaf ➳

sector perspective. Plenty of agencies, boroughs and public sector bodies can create a vision but don’t necessarily know how to deliver it. So I suppose I’ve been able to help get things moving along and get the private sector to take advantage of the massive public sector infrastructure investment and get them to continue to come to this part of London.

SC How will the Olympic Park transform east London?PA There’s already been huge investment, particularly

in transport infrastructure, in the run up to the London 2012 Games, making this place much more accessible – a location of choice. Then you’ve got the park and all the venues and what those will deliver. Clearly part of our role has been preparing the ground, but also ensuring great integration between the park and the wider community, and ensuring we actually deliver socio-economic benefits.

AA The brilliance of the park is that it’s the realisation of policies and a vision that have been there a very long time. The Olympics bid was really a way of using a huge infrastructure project to regenerate east London. It came in the context of a long-held understanding that the future of London was to move east, and that to accelerate that move, you needed a large-scale catalyst. Importantly, it will start to change perception. The more people who come, the more they realise that Stratford is not very far. People allow hours to get here, then arrive in 15 minutes from central London.

SC What kinds of new investment and businesses will benefit from the Olympics?

AA You’re already seeing a lot of commercial growth. As it continues, new businesses – everything from firms servicing Olympic Park venues to the Westfield Development – will start demanding services. You’re seeing it already with 300 plus stores at Westfield, there will be up to 10,000 people working there.

PA We’re creating a lot of new business areas, particularly the 418,000sq m of commercial space at the International Business Quarter that Lend Lease will be developing after 2014. Goodness knows

AA Andrew AltmAn, chief executive, Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC)

PA Peter Andrews, chief executive, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC)

SC siobhán Crozier, East editor

SC From your past career, what has prepared you to tackle the challenges of regenerating east London?

AA My work in Washington DC on the regeneration of the Anacostia Waterfront, a very challenging project, was about the future of Washington DC moving east, into the poorest area of the city, with high unemployment, infant mortality and adult illiteracy, but absolutely beautiful neighbourhoods and a very strong sense of community identity. The challenge was balancing the growth of the city with the needs of poor communities, while working through multiple layers of government.

PA Before I came into public sector regeneration in about 2003, I had two decades experience in development and property fund management finance, mostly in central London, the City and the West End. My experience has really been about how to get things done, looking at things from the private

ABOVE LEFT: Andrew Altman of the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

ABOVE RIGHT: Peter Andrews of London Thames Gateway Development Corporation.

“The more people who come here, the more they realise that Stratford is not very far. People allow hours to get here from central London, then arrive in 15 minutes”

42 winter 2011

SC Other than Olympics supplies and services, is there a specific business sector emerging?

PA Our Olympics dividend is greater than other countries’ because we’ve been a lot more forward-thinking about the legacy. The park has already stimulated a huge amount of development. I don’t think the Westfield scheme would have happened without the Olympics investment; certainly the International Business Quarter wouldn’t have. It’s not another financial quarter like Canary Wharf, but there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be typical business support functions. Equally it can be creative, it can be high-tech and it can be media.

AA It’s about the diversity of east London’s economy, with everything from small start-ups in Hackney and Hackney Wick, to the International Business Quarter with Lend Lease, to the Broadcasting Media Centre, to the clean tech industries I know Peter is promoting at Dagenham Dock. It’s not a monolithic economy. East London is larger than most major cities in the world and it’s a very diverse place.

SC You mentioned Hackney Wick – what’s the current and potential development in the Olympic Fringe?

PA At Hackney Wick in the southern part of the fringe, we’re looking at improving the transport connections, capitalising on the new bridges into the Olympic Park, and making sure that it’s well integrated with the surrounding area. We’re also encouraging creative businesses by bringing forward redundant land and encouraging new development aimed at small and creative businesses. We’re dealing with a post-industrial landscape in the whole of the fringe, which we’re turning into a complete mixed community, with higher-value uses. To the south of the park we’re looking at comprehensive redevelopment of poor industrial warehousing, such as the new district centre at Bromley by Bow or the development of the Sugar House Lane area. This will also bring in retail for the wider community, along with leisure uses, such as a new library, social infrastructure, a new school, and new open spaces, as well as providing new housing and up to 46,000sq m of offices, mainly for SMEs, which aren’t provided for anywhere else.

SC The Olympic Park and the fringe won’t be separate after 2012. How are you working together to ensure that these developments stitch together seamlessly?

PA The new A to Z pages for the area show the park site and surrounds totally integrated into the rest of east London. That’s exactly what we were aiming for when, with the London Development Agency, we put together the Olympic Fringe masterplans.

AA You can’t just stay within the boundary of the park; you have to think about it as it fits into east London, physically, socially and economically. So physically it’s how the park is built and will continue to be built, and in creating connections, with bridges, transport and physical linkages ensuring it’s not an island, preventing the canals and the navigation channels from becoming barriers.


how many jobs that is going to create – 30,000 to 40,000? That will attract footloose businesses currently in the West End, who will find that moving to Stratford isn’t going to disrupt their business. They’ll be just as well connected with the rest of London. We’re 20 odd minutes from Westminster, and with Crossrail coming in 2018, only 40 odd minutes from Heathrow and seven minutes from Liverpool Street. It’s just another part of central London. Once it’s confirmed that trains will be stopping at Stratford International, it will also be a fantastically well-connected place for Europe-focused businesses.

The economic side of it involves making sure that the economic development of the park is connected with the surrounding community, and getting local people into the jobs that are going to be created. Finally, it’s very important that the Olympic Park is loved by the east London community: where the communities of Hackney Wick and Stratford can see cultural performances and access sporting facilities. Constantly asking ‘how is everything we do in the park connected to east London?’ keeps us on the road to the park’s successful integration.

SC What is so compelling to potential investors about east London as opposed to elsewhere in London?

PA I would say, number one, this is one of the best-connected parts of London. Number two, just look at the infrastructure investment outside transport. Look at City Airport, at ExCeL, at the money that’s potentially going to go into the rest of the Royal Docks. Look at the Greenwich Peninsula, huge changes there, the O2, the business premises, the leisure premises, the housing... Look down the whole of the Lower Lea Valley, where else is infrastructure being renewed at such a pace? Yet it’s far cheaper than anywhere else in London and has as many, if not more, competitive advantages.

AA East London is the natural place for growth: centrally located, tremendous transport and real regeneration possibilities. I think it’s going to be a natural.

PA Nowhere else has the scale and deliverability of opportunity. The 1,858 million sq m of office space to be developed here and in the Lower Lea Valley is pretty incredible in its own right. We also have political buy-in, as the number one priority area in the London Plan. What’s been holding it back is profile and people’s false assumptions about the area.

AA Olympic Games can be done in lots of different ways. You don’t have to do this 202-ha site of this scale with so much investment in one place. The Mayor and government made a huge commitment, with massive investment, to facilitate and accelerate change. The government has put its money where its mouth is. Putting in the infrastructure – unlike at Canary Wharf – has reduced costs for the private sector and created a very competitive environment.

PA The transport infrastructure, the political direction, the fact that now we have to deliver growth somewhere in London – and east London has the sites – means its time has come. We’ve got the critical mass that has created its own momentum and gravity to attract other things to it. Too often people try and dilute a project, and invest over a wide area instead of focusing. It’s having a bold enough vision, combined with delivery and execution – they don’t work in isolation – combined with the scale of the investment and alignment of interest. The Games and other major infrastructure projects, such as Crossrail, are vehicles to bring together a lot of different interests. These things don’t happen overnight. This vision’s been out there for years and years, but it was the tenacity of the government and the community in east London who said they wanted to make this vision real. You have to believe in it. The third ingredient is long-term planning. Setting up the Olympic Park Legacy Company and then ultimately, the Mayoral Development Corporation, has absolutely got the governance right. What we’ve done here is exemplary; no other country had started to plan so early.

“The transport infrastructure, the political direction, the fact that now we have to deliver growth somewhere in London – and east London has the sites – means its time has come. We’ve got the critical mass that has created its own momentum and gravity to attract other things to it”

ABOVE: Andrews – “Nowhere else has the scale and deliverability of opportunity.”

BELOW: Altman – “East London is the natural place for growth.”

44 winter 2011

AA

The most prestigiousaddress in East London

With a 43 storey residential tower rising high above the London skyline, Stratford Halo is a truly landmark Genesis development of more than 700 homes. Located on the doorstep of the London 2012 Olympic Park and Stadium, it is the most exciting development in East London.

At Genesis, we’re passionate about developing new quality homes. Our mission is to deliver places that people are proud to call home.

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infrastructure and retrofitting initiatives are cementing east london’s reputation for showing sustainability in practice. PAMELA BUXTON reports on how the area is helping to achieve our low-carbon future

More broadly, the retrofit scheme is conceived as a demonstration project – one that can be replicated elsewhere in east London and beyond.

With Sainsbury’s Climate Collaborative and the Ashden Trust, the Institute has set up a community-scale retrofit network. This aims to bring together organisations and individuals who want to work together on initiatives to deliver sustainable cities.

The Total Community Retrofit project is planned to take 15-20 years. Working closely with developer and planning authority London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, the Institute hopes to see the project bring in an additional £40 million of investment within three years, and potentially, £100 million within five years.

The second project is the £24.3 million Low Carbon London initiative, the UK’s leading project for delivering smart energy infrastructure. It works with selected households in 10 low-carbon zones across London, plus the Thames Gateway’s Green Enterprise District – spanning Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham, Newham and Havering. The Low Carbon Initiative will help determine the form of a future smart grid that can cope with future energy needs.

This is vital for the future. The electricity network would be unable to accommodate both the increases in demand and the


ast London is taking centre stage in two key initiatives at the forefront of sustainability research and practice, both essential if the UK is to meet government carbon reduction

targets by 2050. Both projects equally represent fantastic opportunities to make east London a focus for investment according to Ian Short, chief executive of the Institute for Sustainability.

The first initiative, and the Institute’s headline project, is the Total Community Retrofit programme in Bromley by Bow and Poplar in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. This hugely aspirational plan aims to demonstrate by 2015 what a sustainable community in 2050 will look like.

The project, led by the Institute, working with a number of local partners, will take a holistic approach, encompassing everything from finance to delivery and community engagement. Rather than concentrating on piecemeal improvements and focusing only on the physical state of buildings, as some such initiatives have done in the past, this will bring together the sustainability of both new and old buildings, district-wide heating, local energy provision, transport, waste, lighting, green space, and the social and economic aspects of sustainability.

“This is the most ambitious retrofit project in the UK,” says Short. “It’s driven by

understanding that if we have any chance of delivering a sustainable country and planet we need to do things differently in two ways – we need to do things at scale by using targets to drive real social and economic value in the long term. And we need to be looking at cities and neighbourhoods as whole systems [pictured above].

“There is a huge amount of value – through job growth, skills and asset ownership – and beyond the purely technical stuff.”

It is essential, Short adds, that the community sees the initiative as being owned by them, rather than as something that is done to the community by an external force. To ensure that residents have a genuine stake in the programme, the Institute will be working with several local social innovators such as the Bromley by Bow Centre, Tower Hamlets Council and Poplar Harca, one of the larger local social landlords, which is already committed to a renovation programme.

“It can’t be owned by anyone. It needs to become a true partnership between the public and private sectors along with the community,” says Short.

Benefits to local residents include cheaper renewable energy, skills training and jobs, new social enterprises, and reinvestment of financial returns in new community assets such as green spaces.

smart logistics and green supply chains

central power plant

industrial plant

water efficiency

wind farmsolar power

renewable energy at community level combined heat and power plant

open spaces

waste to energy plant

offices housing

smart grids

sustainable transport

ABOVE: The bigger picture – connecting green initiatives to create sustainable communities locally, city-wide, across the country and globally.

48 winter 2011

It is not just domestic clients who will be taking part in new ways of using power. UK Power Networks is also looking to sign contracts with several industrial and commercial customers for each substation, which would be prepared to reduce their demand by one or two megawatts in exceptional circumstances.

Creating a supply infrastructure that is better suited to future sustainable energy use should benefit developers and businesses by providing better information on their energy use and offering more options to manage the costs and benefits from renewable energy.

The need for a smarter grid – both for suppliers and their customers – is becoming increasingly pressing. To meet 2050 carbon reduction targets, electricity provision needs to become decarbonised at some point around the 2030s, according to the Committee on Climate Change. This would require a surge in take-up of electric vehicles before then, with all the demand implications that would bring.

“It’s a huge change. With Low Carbon London we’re trying to pull together all of these things into one programme so that we understand how that will impact on the network,” says Openshaw.

will also explore the effect on the power grid of a greater use of microgeneration and electric vehicles, and will consider optimum future electricity distribution at substations. Findings from the project will be analysed by Imperial College.

The energy use of those with smart meters will be monitored and some will be selected for tariffs that encourage low-peak electricity use. Such electricity use in the future would be good for charging electric vehicles. Instead of doing so in the early evening when demand levels are high, users need to be encouraged to charge at night when there is less demand for power. Smart technology might enable this to be programmed in advance, with reduced rates for night-time use.

The project will also trial a wind-twinning tariff which can be used with weather intelligence systems to predict when more wind-generated power will be available and encourage use at that time. This approach could potentially be used for household appliances such as washing machines, which could in the future be able to respond to a lower price signal.

Ultimately, the use of electricity will require customers and their energy infrastructure to be much better attuned to the dynamics of power supplies and rates. This is an approach that many people are already accustomed to when selecting mobile phone tariffs.

“We appreciate this is a step change in behaviour for customers,” says Openshaw. “Having smart meters is an essential first step. If we want to achieve maximum use of wind generation in an affordable way, these are the types of things we will need to do.”

unpredictable supply of micro-generated energies such as wind and solar – which will both rise enormously in the near future. The only alternative would be a massive reinforcement of the electricity network which would be hugely disruptive, expensive, and unsustainable.

“It’s far more affordable and far more acceptable if we can use smart infrastructure,” says Dave Openshaw, head of future networks at UK Power Networks, which is working on the project with the Institute, Siemens (pictured right) and Logica, among many other partners, with funding from Ofgem’s Low Carbon Network Fund for stimulating innovation in electricity distribution.

In east London, this will involve the trial installation of several hundred smart meters in homes in Bromley by Bow and Canning Town during the next year to encourage more use of sustainable energy. The research

LEFT: Homes in Bromley by Bow will benefit from both the Total Community Retrofit programme and Low Carbon Initiative.BELOW: The Siemens Pavillion will be the flagship of east London’s Green Enterprise District.

“Having smart meters is an essential first step. If we want to achieve maximum use of wind generation in an affordable way, these are the types of things we will need to do”

For more information about these companies, visit www.eastmagazine.net/links

East partners group Joining together to support east London

Bircham Dyson BellMark Challis

[email protected]

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority Stephen Bromberg

[email protected]

London Thames Gateway Development Corporation

[email protected]

Stratford Renaissance Partnership Cathy Low

[email protected]

Telford Homes [email protected]

3Fox International Paul Gussar

[email protected]

www.telfordhomes.plc.uk

www.stratfordlondon.info

East_logopage_2.indd 2 16/11/2011 16:34

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contacts

50 winter 2011

Editor Siobhán CrozierdEsign Katrin Smejkal, Gene Cornelius, Smallfury DesignProduction Editor Rachael SchofieldEditorial assistant James WoodhEad of businEss dEvEloPmEnt Paul Gussar businEss dEvEloPmEnt managEr Sophie Gosling Production assistant Jeri Dumont officE managEr Sue MaparasubscriPtions managEr Simon Maxwellmanaging dirEctor Toby Fox PublishEd by Lower Ground Floor, 189 Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TB T: 020 7978 6840 F: 020 7681 3468

For contacts and feedback visit www.eastmagazine.net

{the changing face of east London}

imagEs David Tothill, David Fernandes, James Brittain, Tim Crocker, Siemens plc, Transport for London, Newham Council, Studio Egret West www.egretwest.com, English Cities Fund, LandProp/Inter Ikea, © London City Airport 2011, © Crossrail Ltd, Tech City UK www.techcityuk.com, London 2012, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, Tower Hamlets Council, BT, London RIB Voyages, Rooff Ltd, Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners, Westfield Stratford City, Dean Nicholas - The Londonist, London Development Agency. 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 magazine are not necessarily those of 3Fox International Limited or London Thames Gateway Development Corporation.

For contacts and feedback visit www.eastmagazine.net

http://www.eastmagazine.net

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Castleward’s potential is

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East Magazine Issue 2