London is reaping the rewards from hosting the best Olympic and Paralympic Games ever with billions of pounds of inward investment, supporting economic growth and the creation of tens of thousands of jobs, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson revealed today.
One year on since the start of the 2012 Games, London has seen a surge in foreign interest, which has led to a series of major investment deals secured by the Mayor in recent months totalling more than £4bn, all with the potential to deliver tens of billions of pounds more value into the city's economy. The deals will help regenerate locations across the city and comprise:
• £ 1.2bn investment into the Royal Albert Docks by Chinese developer, ABP;
• £1bn investment into Croydon through a joint venture between Australian developer Westfield and UK property developer Hammerson;
• £700m into Battersea Nine Elms from Dalian Wanda Group.
This is in addition to £1bn of inward investment flowing into London confirmed in a £9.9bn figure released today by UK Trade and Investment relating to UK-wide Games-influenced trade and investment. Collectively, these £4bn-plus investments are expected to support tens of thousands of new jobs in the capital.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: ‘We proved the Olympo-sceptics in error when they declared that London couldn’t lay on a world class Games. We are now set to defy the doom-mongers when it comes to securing a permanent legacy. London is succeeding where virtually no other host city has, on track to secure a solid gold payback on the taxpayers’ outlay and a rosy future for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Since last summer, the capital has seen a surge of overseas investment totalling at least £4bn, from Croydon to Battersea to the Royal Albert Docks as well as seeing an extraordinary transformation of East London. This is delivering tens of thousands of jobs for Londoners and helping the capital sprint ahead in the global race for business.’
The Mayor has also confirmed an extensive programme of work designed to help unemployed Londoners in the five host boroughs to gain work skills reached its target to help 70,000 people get Games-related jobs, equipping participants with skills to access permanent, long-term employment in the future. An independent evaluation of the programme published today describes it as ‘exemplary practice and a model that could be replicated in other parts of London and the UK.’
The Mayor, added: ‘The Games is seeing a rapid physical regeneration of some of the poorer parts of our capital but it was always an imperative to ensure this historic event worked as a positive force for local residents, closing the gap between quality of life in the host boroughs and the rest of London. In providing 70,000 workless Londoners with some level of Games-related employment, we’ve equipped them with valuable skills and a better chance to access the benefits that we are now seeing flow into these areas. This programme is being seen as an exemplar which can now be replicated in London and across the UK.’
Summary of key legacy benefits:
QUEEN ELIZABETH OLYMPIC PARK - London has already secured the long term future of eight out of eight of the Olympic and Paralympic venues, including private-sector or commercial operators, unprecedented in Games' history. The Park will reopen in phases from later this month with a summer of elite sport, music, cultural and community events. From July, the Copper Box and the core area of the North Park will open to the public. The former Olympic stadium’s status as a multi-use venue, anchored by football, but home to some of the world’s biggest sporting events, is unparalleled in Olympic history. The Park is set to deliver 11,000 homes, many affordable, and 10,000 jobs;
EAST LONDON REGENERATION – Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is at the heart of plans for a new urban district and a wider regeneration of areas stretching from stretching from Stratford to the Royal Docks and the Lower Lea Valley with the aim to deliver 40,000 new homes and 60,000 new jobs over the next 20 years;
TRANSPORT – £6.5 billion of investment in transport is bringing better customer service, greater capacity, and improved reliability, opening up new opportunity areas and driving regeneration, in particular in East London including transport hub at Stratford;
TOURISM – the latest International Passenger Survey statistics show that a record number of tourists from overseas visited London in the first quarter of 2013, equating to 3.4 million visitors in the first three months of this year, a 4.2% boost on the same period last year. Expenditure over the same period reached £2.1billon, a significant 11.5% increase compared with the first quarter of last year. This means that London has experienced increased expenditure from overseas visitors for last seven quarters, whilst an additional 1.1 million people are expected to visit London by 2017 as a result of the Games;
ELITE SPORT - A world class sporting legacy for London is already secured. Between now and 2017 we will host a range of events including the Anniversary Games; the World Triathlon Series; the Rugby League World Cup; Ride London; the Tour De France; the Rugby Union World Cup; the European Hockey Championships; the Athletics World Championships and the IPC World Championships.
GRASSROOTS SPORT - At a grassroots level, over 2.4 million people now take part in sport in London every week – the highest number ever recorded – up 171,000 in the last 18 months, 90,000 of whom are young people and 17,000 are disabled. The Mayor’s sports legacy programme has provided £16.5 million to fund 76 sporting projects and facilities across London, with 13,000 new coaches & officials. This includes investment into more than 200 schools;
VOLUNTEERING – The 2012 Games inspired tens of thousands of new volunteers, reversing a 7 year decline, with 91% of Londoners thinking volunteering plays an important role in bringing communities together and improving quality of life and 68% of Londoners having done some formal volunteering in the last year. Following on from today’s Go Local volunteering event at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Team London ambassadors will staff 11 visitor sites in London; Team London’s schools programme will be extended to more than 200 schools, with the aim of placing a volunteer in every school; a revamped website will help more people get involved in thousands of volunteering opportunities: (http://volunteerteam.london.gov.uk);
PARALYMPIC LEGACY – 81% of those surveyed believe the Paralympics had a positive effect on attitude to disability; investment into London’s transport network is bringing new lifts and step free access to many rail stations and all of the DLR, accessibility on all river piers, all buses, 70% of bus stops and all black cabs. On the Tube, there is step free platform access at 35 stations, 16 more than at the time of the Games, as well as better signage;
EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS LEGACY PROGRAMME – Recognising employment in the five Olympic host boroughs is significantly below the London and national averages, programmes were established to help unemployed Londoners gain employment skills and create a labour market legacy once the Games were finished. These schemes reached a target to help 70,000 Londoners from under-represented groups gain skills and work experience needed work to compete for jobs in the future;
COMPETEFOR - CompeteFor was established to allow businesses of all sizes, but particularly SMEs, to compete for contract opportunities linked to the Games. More than 168,000 businesses registered and over 13,000 contract opportunities have been made available to date with 75 per cent awarded to SMEs. CompeteFor’s on-going future is now secured under a private sector contractor, helping businesses access further public contract opportunities from projects such as Crossrail;
MAYOR’S GAMES-TIME BUSINESS HOSTING PROGRAMME - During the six weeks of the Games, the Mayor and his team hosted more than 200 senior executives – and 3,000 people at London House - to drive foreign direct investment into the capital. London & Partners’ figures show that since the Games, 24 investment projects resulting from this engagement programme has delivered over £530million GVA into the city’s economy. This includes investment from companies Huawei Technologies from China and Infosys from India.
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Notes to editors
• The Government and Mayor have today (19 July) published a report – ‘Inspired by 2012: The legacy from the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games’. The report describes the activities since the Games they, and others, have taken to build a lasting legacy across a number of commitments including: sport and healthy living, the regeneration of east London, bringing communities together, the Paralympic legacy and economic growth. Whilst the legacy is described as a ten-year project, significant progress has been made. This is part of a series of assessments on the impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games – to see these reports www.london.gov.uk/inspired-by-2012
• For more information on the inward investment deals mentioned here: www.london.gov.uk/media/mayor-press-releases & http://www.londonandpartners.com/media-centre/press-releases