Happy birthday, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We’ll allow you a whole weekend of celebration, but come Monday morning, please do get back to work.
A tour this week of the site of last July’s triumphant Games revealed the progress that has been made. The magisterial Velodrome is little altered, though its neighbour, the BMX track, has been replaced by a slightly down-at-heel concert venue.
Come September, its use will change again as work on creating the park’s first of five new neighbourhoods, Chobham Manor, begins. As many as 8,000 homes will be built by 2030, an important but ultimately modest dent in London’s overall housing need.
The Aquatic Centre is having its unsightly wings clipped and is being returned to the vision of architect Zaha Hadid.
The International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre risked becoming a white elephant, but next month it will very publicly return to action. BT Sport will begin broadcasting Premier League football from its new HQ inside.
Next month, residents will begin to move into the former Athlete’s Village, now East Village, the Qatari Diar Delancey and Triathlon Homes development that provides the first real test of the government’s private rental sector initiative.
The Copper Box meanwhile, home to Olympic fencing and handball, opens next week for community sport and leisure uses. Why not use it for your next game of badminton?
Indeed, all eight of the Games’ permanent venues have long-term operators.
So far, so good. Grounds for celebration, certainly. And appropriate fodder for EGTV’s latest (and rather good, if you will allow a moment of indulgence) offering.
But the hard work begins now. Getting BT to put pen to paper on a 10-year lease at iCity to take 75,000 sq ft for its new BT Sport channel was a major coup. Just as the BBC’s new home at Media City has helped re-energise Manchester’s campaign to be a premier TMT destination, the broadcasting of 38 live Barclays Premier League games a season, as well as 69 live Aviva Premiership rugby union games, should similarly benefit Stratford.
Also at iCity, Infinity is to take 280,000 sq ft for a data centre, while Loughborough University has chosen the site for a 90,000 sq ft postgraduate hub. The site is more than 44% prelet. Or, to borrow a tactic from British Land’s Chris Grigg at the launch of the Cheesegrater a few weeks ago, 56% unlet.
At the park’s International Quarter, there was good news a fortnight ago, as the jv between Lend Lease and London and Continental Railways sold a 275,000 sq ft hotel site to Starboard Atlantic Hotels. There is plenty of interest in the 4m sq ft of new workspace from universities (UCL and the University of the Arts), media and financial firms. With the site reverting to the jv’s hands in April, converting that interest into signatures is now the priority.
Much to celebrate, but much to do.
• Like our Rich List, the Estates Gazette Power List is one of the property industry’s most closely watched barometers. Topping this year’s list, published in March, was the UK shopper. It still feels like the right call. From being a key measure and driver of UK plc’s overall economic health, to retailer pre-packs for stores spurned by shoppers, to the march of the internet, much of the responsibility for securing a sustainable recovery still rests on consumers’ shoulders.
This week we build on the annual list by publishing our first global top 10 detailing those individuals or organisations whose “international” influence will be brought to bear on the UK property market over the next 12 months. Many are familiar names, others less so. Some are based in the UK, most are at least frequent visitors. The influence of all will impact to a greater or lesser degree on this industry’s fortunes.
damian.wild@estatesgazette.com
