Recently in East London Category

My old alma mater, the University of East London (yes, I did my MBA there way back; so far back it was still a poly!), held a cracking seminar hosted by the London Legacy Development Corporation the other evening. It's title was "Beyond 2012: the Olympics and the Regeneration of East London". As the blurb said: "Over the last few decades East London has never been short of ambitious development projects and it now has an impressive set of elements (of varying success): a global financial centre, entertainments complex, exhibition centre and now the Olympic Park. These were unthinkable even 30 years ago." (btw: it was me that added the part in italics in the bracket, natch).
 
UEL's own Ralph Ward was in the chair (he's UKR's too, of course) and the speakers were those twin poles of luminosity: Martin Crookston, who managed the East Thames corridor for Michael Heseltine (and was the voice of reason on the Rogers Urban Task Force), and Eric Sorensen, who managed the Inner City Directorate of the old DoE before becoming one of the (there were only two who counted) transformational chief executives of the London Docklands Development Corporation. Nobody better really.

One of the things about being a quasi-journalist is that I get all sorts of strange and diverting press releases coming across my screen each day. It can be a lot of fun. I was sent a rather entertaining thing this morning from an organisation called "Property Property Property" run by an outfit known as Juice PR.

They say they conduct a "monthly analysis of the most popular searched for borough". And in this morning's "study" they are claiming that Hackney has proven to be one of the most popular searched for boroughs among home seekers between 28 and 35 years.

I must apologise for the radio silence these past few days. I haven't been on holiday or ill or anything. I am just, I guess like so many of our countrymen and women, so... well.... so very distracted by it all.
 
It isn't just the actual games (of which I have the most hazy understanding) or the spectacle of the Olympics, although these are compelling enough: the heroics of Ennis, Murray and Bolt, the surprise results, Super Saturday, the medal tables, and so forth; it is also what it has done for the national morale, the commentary on the Twitter feed (these are the first "Twitter Olympics" I guess), the display of national pride normally so alien to the British psyche; the nuances of what it says about Britain and our culture.

Well! What a weekend we have had!  In my last blog I posed three questions about the Olympics; the first was "Are we up to it?"  
 
And what a huge and blessed relief for the British public to find that early indications are that... Yes. We. Are!  Indeed we are.  And in spades.

Further to last Thursday's blog I was immensely saddened, but not surprised, to receive the following message to the UK Fashion Hub team at close of business on Friday evening:
 
"The UK Fashion Hub team is very sorry to have to tell you that today we withdrew from the bidding process. The decision was not an easy one to make, but in light of the stories in the press stating that iCity had won the bid, a week before the LLDC board was scheduled to meet to make that decision, as well as other issues over the process, we felt we were left with little choice.

A feeling of profound unease descended at this morning's reports that confidence in security firm G4S is so eroded that the government is sending 3,500 troops in to bolster operations for the Olympics.  That, together with the vicissitudes at Heathrow and the closure of the M4 (signals being that it might be for the whole summer) made for a queasy start to the day.  Londoners' anxiety levels are already quite high. You might think I'm paranoid but I tell you now: they're all out to get me.  And I can prove it.  

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I started a hare running with my (admittedly somewhat intemperate) remarks about Tower Hamlets a few days ago. I have had a huge response to this, both in public and in private - mostly in private, and mostly supportive of my spluttering sense of exasperation. I am particularly grateful to the last post on this blog from Phil, who offers the voice of reason in all of this. 

It is a febrile and fraught environment east of Bishopsgate, and no mistake.  And I cannot help but observe that the City of London has enough threats on its horizon without its immediate neighbour destabilising the fringes. So I stand by my remarks, although I do concede that I could have expressed my views more professionally.

It's been a busy couple of days in UKR circles, with a lot going on. We had a great outing at the first Place East London conference on Wednesday, which showed the immense opportunity that still exists in the patch, and set out some key challenges for the East London regeneration community (several hundred of the blighters) who had assembled for the event and marauding on to the wine reception after.  

As we gear up for the Place East London conference over in Stratford Town Hall later today, the forces of goodness and light begin to coalesce over in London E15.  We will find new paradigms for East Enders, I promise, and we will forge a new path for wealth creation for all.  

But I am reminded that it isn't always all a hotbed of positivity over on the east side.  There is, of course, that very special vortex of madness, that place which sensible people would all do well to avoid; that borough of which only the brave dare speak the name, a little like that of Lord Voldemort.  It is the rightful heir to the shenanigans at Liverpool and Lambeth of the 1980s.  I speak, but of course, of... Tower Hamlets.  

We are a bit hoist by our own petard with our up-coming Place East London conference, which is being supported by the UKR Forum.  This event, which I am privileged to be chairing, is being held on 20 June at Stratford Town Hall (yikes! I've just realised that's tomorrow!).

It is a half-day conference, starting at 2pm and finishing (with drinks) at 5.15pm.  And we find we are a little in demand.  I wrote to the target audience promising "energetic and pacy" content, with some quick fire sessions, to provide a thoroughly focused opportunity to discuss East London, not just in the run-up to the Olympics but also - and more crucially really - in this strange new economy in which we find ourselves!