MIPIM 2012: City of London and Canary Wharf office occupiers are looking at a move to Stratford City after the Olympics.
Lend Lease director Kevin Chapman said today that his company is in talks with tenants in the City, Canary Wharf and around Liverpool Street about a move to the 4m sq ft of offices at the firm’s International Quarter scheme.
He added: “We are looking to see a change in perception for Stratford.”
Chapman was speaking at a panel event chaired by Estates Gazette editor Damian Wild.
Other members of the panel included minister for sport Hugh Robertson, Olympic Park Legacy Company chair Baroness Margaret Ford and Savills director Dominic Grace.
On the timescale for creating the Olympic legacy, Ford said: “This will be a 20-year build. We are not going to do this quickly, we are going to do it well.”
Robertson added: “The mistake Sydney made after the [2000 Olympic Games] was to pull the shutters down quickly… . It is crucial that we don’t let the momentum of the Games run away from us… . We are in a gold medal winning position. There is still a lot to do in the next three months, but we are ahead in terms of budget.”
Robertson and Ford, however, refused to be drawn on who would be taking tenancy of the Olympic Stadium, following the collapse of the West Ham Football Club deal last October.
Ford said: “We are exactly where we expected to be at this point.”
On the residential side, Grace said, Stratford “ticks so many of the boxes” for occupiers.
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