Case Study: Here East

Q: For anyone who isn’t aware yet – can you tell us about Here East and what you do here?

Gavin: Here East is a large, over a million square foot, mixed commercial campus dedicated to innovation, technology and creative industries in the northwest corner of the park. This was the former home, during London 2012, of the international press and media pack.  Home to all the TV studios and all the journalists who reported the games to the world. And over the past decade, we've transformed it into a world leading campus, dedicated to innovation.

Q: What organisations are already located here?

Gavin: As we've looked to assemble a real mix of organisations who are focused on exploiting the collaboration of being close to one another, alongside universities, alongside large global businesses and small start-ups. Some of the key figures in that, is obviously Plexal our own innovation centre, which is home to over 120 businesses, and again, a world class innovation consultancy led by Andrew Roughan, my business partner.  We've also got universities such as University College London, Loughborough University, Teesside, Staffordshire LMA, and they’re sat alongside global businesses like Ford Global, Ford Europe, we've got Matches Fashion, we have Sega Electronic Arts.  All of whom are deeply connected to each other by having programs where we bring the leadership and the C suite executives together, looking at ways that we can find; are there collaborative projects we can work on; are there things we can support each other with; and how can we engage better in local community and provide jobs and opportunities for the people around us?

Q: In what ways being located a Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park support collaboration, organizations and innovation.

Gavin: So one of the key one of the cornerstones of our vision was to create a place where we were able to foster a real spirit of collaboration and work and something we often hear businesses say is they underestimated the scale of the opportunity to move into Here East and the wider Olympic Park.  And that is not something that just happens through serendipity. It is something that the management team here, both across Here East and Plexal, work tirelessly to make sure that those connections are brought together, and are made, not just within the Here East campus, but across the path and wider across the whole network. So what we've got is a truly unique collaborative ecosystem. It starts with here east, reaches across the Olympic Park, and then goes beyond that across the rest of the London and the UK.

Q: In your opinion, how can the local culture east London and Queen the needs of business leaders

Gavin: Being based at Here East provides a huge opportunity for businesses relocating to this part of London, or expanding their footprint in this part of London. The talent pipeline is phenomenal. Many of the businesses and universities that have moved here, identify that as a key reason for their relocation to Here East and into the park. What we have to do is to work with the community with the local schools, the colleges, the universities, and in the wider community to make sure those opportunities are fully understood, and that we can tap into the talent that exists around us who might not realize that these jobs and opportunities exist.

Q: On a more personal note, what do you enjoy most about being located within Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park?

Gavin: One of the key things I've enjoyed about being here and developing Here East and looking at the Park since 2012, is the constant change that we are experiencing.  We're part of a true legacy project that was originally set out to be 20 years long, and we're just over halfway through that. Each year things change each year, things improve, they get better, they expand. And I think what I've enjoyed the most has been being part of that change, in some areas leading that change. And in some areas, bringing together different components, different businesses, different institutions, to really make sure that that change is leveraged and the opportunities really do flow into the wider local community.

Q: What does the future look like for Here East?

Gavin: Here East is at the point now where we're over 90% full, we're starting to get to a point where some of our early tenants like BT have relocated as part of a major acquisition by Warner Brothers.  And we're looking at what are the types of expansions what other businesses can we bring in? How can we can reconfigure certain spaces ready for the next 10 years?  Now our innovation centre and consultancy goes from strength to strength and the businesses that we see here. The constant message we have is growth. So we see people wanting more space and more new faces coming to campus. So I think the future looks very bright. And as more and more institutions move into the Park with East Bank coming online, be Stratford Cross taking more occupants coming in and Westfield developing their office space. I think it's just going to get busier and busier and busier and such a thriving part of London.

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