Around 110,000 new jobs have been created since the 2012 Olympics within the six London districts that hosted events of the Games, according to Mayor Sadiq Khan. Speaking at a conference entitled “Leading London: London at the heart of business innovation,” Khan confirmed that there has been an economic boom in the 2012 Olympic host boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, with the number of jobs created more than three times the forecast pace of growth in 2013.
“The legacy of the 2012 Olympics is not just about the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park,” said Khan. “It is about delivering regeneration for an area of London that we want to last for decades to come.”
In Tower Hamlets alone, 50,000 new jobs have been created since 2012, while job growth in Newham (17,000) and Hackney (25,000) has been five times larger than expected. According to a report by Oxford Economics, the world-renowned economic forecaster, this boom is expected to continue, with a further 125,000 new jobs across the six boroughs anticipated by 2030. The lion’s share of these are predicted to be in science and technology. “I am pleased to see this area of London is providing tens of thousands of new jobs for Londoners in important industries like technology, science and media. This is great news for East London, great news for our city and our country,” added the London mayor.
The regeneration of East London following the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012, which has been led by the London Legacy Development Corporation, has seen a significant increase in the population with more than two million people now living in the area – 170,000 more than was projected in 2013. In addition to securing the future of the venues built for the Games, which now form a core part of the 2012 legacy, the corporation has overseen the development of new neighborhoods, business parks and cultural areas, helping to transform this once deprived area of London into a key destination for culture, sport, business and education, which underlines the need for cities to take a long-term view of Games legacy.
The city’s mayor also set out his plans on how to create a new, world-class cultural destination in the Olympic Park.
“I’m also working hard to create a new, world-class cultural destination in the Olympic Park, bringing together some of the world’s best arts and education institutions. We’ve not seen anything on this scale in London since the creation of the museum complex in South Kensington over 150 years ago, and I’m looking forward to it becoming one of the largest cultural and educational destinations within Europe. It shows what can be achieved by bringing together a world-class public realm, access to culture and proper co-ordination between affordable housing, social infrastructure and transport, and should be a good example of providing good growth across our city.”
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.