Once approved, iCITY will transform the former Press and Broadcast Centres on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into a world-leading creative and digital cluster, delivering thousands of jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities for the local community.
Following public consultation earlier this year, iCITY refined its designs and today unveils a new set of images by leading architects Hawkins\Brown providing a stunning visual depiction of how iCITY will look following the transformation works.
iCITY, a joint venture between special real estate investment company Delancey and Infinity SDC, the UK's leading data centre operator, will provide a new home with state-of-the-art infrastructure for the creative and digital industries, the fastest growing sector of the UK economy. It will include a range of versatile spaces for individual start-up businesses to locate and grow, and a new yard will provide a unique space for activities from film screenings to markets, pop-up stalls and street food vendors, as well as a whole host of community events. The former briefing facility between the two buildings will be developed into a 1,000 seat auditorium.
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Following planning approval early next year, iCITY expects to begin construction work on the former Press and Broadcast Centres in the summer of 2014.
Key tenants Loughborough University, Hackney Community College and Infinity SDC will locate at iCITY from 2015, and the entire iCITY area will be fully operational by 2018. BT Sport is already broadcasting live directly from iCITY with a state of the art 80,000 square foot production hub, underpinning the development and demonstrating the attractiveness of iCITY to the technology, media and creative sector.
The refined designs mean that iCITY will now create over 7,500 jobs. This includes 5,300 directly on-site and a further 2,200 in the local community through the impact of using local supply chains. iCITY has committed to working closely with its tenants to ensure they create employment opportunities and create pathways for local people through training and apprenticeships into full employment.
Both Hackney Community College and Loughborough University will locate at iCITY, training thousands of students a year with the skills to take advantage of jobs in the digital economy.
(CD/JP)
