A decade on, the London Olympics were a lightning rod for urban regeneration
As we near the ten-year anniversary of the London Olympics, and look forward to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this summer, it’s valuable to also look back at the past decade and what we have achieved since that summer in 2012.
The legacy of the Games has driven real change and transformation in Stratford and across East London. A continued investment in regeneration – through physical infrastructure, co-creation with communities and a focus on long-term job outcomes – has had a profound social impact on the area and its population, with improved life expectancy and local skills development.
The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is Londoners should be proud of – a home to international-standard leisure facilities, world-leading arts organisations and globally recognised academic institutions.
Lendlease has invested heavily into it. At the International Quarter London, we’re have through the delivery of a workplace-led campus to support the ambition for job creation and skill development that formed a key part of London’s role in hosting the games.
Last year, the International Olympic Committee changed the official Olympic motto, adding the word ‘Together’ so it now reads: Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together. For me, this encapsulates the success of the Olympic Games legacy, which undoubtedly has been the result of close cross-sector collaboration and a collective ambition.
Over the next decade we must continue to work together to keep up with changing consumer priorities, technological advancements and the increasing pressures of climate change. As with the Olympics, when we look to solve these challenges together, we can have a much more significant impact.
Today we launched Shift, an innovation district designed to transform the Olympic Park into an urban testbed for new technology, research and product development. It’s an opportunity for like-minded organisations spanning tech, business, science, academia and the arts to co-locate and help shape the future of urban living. Working together, we will discover solutions to help local people that can be scaled up and applied globally, aiming to find answers to the crises we face in 2022, focusing on climate adaptation, health and wellbeing and movement.
The district will aim to turbocharge existing and future innovation across the Olympic Park, help attract national and international investment to Stratford, and continue to establish the area as a leading technology and data hub in London. Critically, it is locally driven, reaching into the communities it sits in, offering an opportunity for existing residents and businesses within Stratford and beyond to be at its heart.
Success will depend on continued teamwork and learning from one another. We must harness each other’s knowledge and strengths to ensure we deliver on our intentions – not lofty ambitions but real, inclusive outcomes that make a difference to people’s everyday lives.
For our part, Lendlease is working on a number of international projects that are innovating and pushing boundaries in the regions they’re in, such as a similar innovation district in Milan, dedicated to the progress and wellbeing of people. We’re constantly learning from the lived experiences of the communities we work in to make sure that we’re connecting the dots and no one is left behind.
We should be proud of our Olympic legacy – it shows what can be achieved when we work together. London has moved east since 2012, and there’s clear appetite for continued investment. I’m sure we’ll look back after the next ten years and realise this is just the beginning.