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Mayor of London Boris Johnson has today called on businesses and organisations from around the world to submit truly ground-breaking ideas to contribute to making the Olympic Park a spectacular success once London's Games are over. In Beijing, as he prepared to receive the Olympic flag that will mark the handover to London as Olympic host city the Mayor launched 'London Calling' as Chairman of the Olympic Park Regeneration Steering Group. This is a prospectus setting out the ambitions for the Olympic Park after the Games and challenging global investors to submit exceptional ideas for its development. The Mayor said: "In 2012 we will stage a spectacular sporting event but I am also determined that London should realise the potential that the 2012 Games offer to make our city greater still through the legacy that we can leave for generations to come. "A huge amount of our investment in the Olympic Park is for legacy. We are cleaning up the land, burying overhead powerlines, upgrading roads and railways and installing new energy infrastructure. A site of this scale and quality, within a few minutes of a great city centre, must be almost unprecedented. We are delivering for 2012, but planning for the long-term. "Since my election as Mayor I have insisted on new focus and more impetus in planning and delivering this long term legacy. And today I am calling on investors and organisations around the world to come forward and surprise us with startling ideas that can preserve the memory of the Games while creating a new focus for London's eastward growth. "We are looking for ideas of how London's Olympic Park can become not just a great place to live, work and visit, but a place that retains a flavour of the extra-ordinary, a place with the 'wow' factor, a place of magic. We are looking for the mix of imagination and realism that marks out the truly great ideas and will create a truly great place." Tessa Jowell Minister for the Olympics and London said: "By 2012 London will be a city transformed by investment from government, the private sector but also from other countries, attracted to the ambition and potential of London. That's why we are setting a target for foreign investment to be driven by London's status as a host city. This is a unique opportunity - we will not waste it." Speaking on behalf of the five host boroughs, Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham said: "It's no exaggeration to say that the future of London lies in the five host boroughs of Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Newham. The Olympic Park sits at the heart of an area of unrivalled opportunity for business; one of the largest urban development sites in Europe. "We're looking for the world's most creative minds to bring their ideas and investment to this, the most exciting area of London - to add to the buzz that the 2012 Games is already generating and to underpin the area's growing prosperity and development." Harvey McGrath, Chairman of the London Development Agency, said: "We want to ensure that the legacy development of the Olympic Park captures any truly exceptional, ground breaking ideas from around the world. Whether it is an event, iconic development or attraction we want to hear ideas that could complement and enhance our ambitions for Europe's largest urban regeneration project." Entrepreneurs, innovators and investors should go to http://www.2012londoncalling.co.uk/ to submit their ideas. All entries will be evaluated by a panel including mayoral advisors, local government leaders and private sector entrepreneurs. Those who submit the best ideas will be engaged by the LDA to work up their plans for incorporation into the emerging legacy masterplan. www.london.gov.uk |
